Ambitions
by KhallieGurl
Summary: <html><head></head>Nico and Pedro have always been on top when it comes to the party scene. But some people aren't happy about it.  Rated K  because I don't plan on writing any particularly mature material, but there will probably be some mild violence later on.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Hello Readers: This is my first Rio story. I don't really have any notes before I begin, so...enjoy. :)

Disc: I definitely do not own Rio. (I just named some characters that appeared in the movie nameless. I.E., Blu and Jewel's children and a green parrot seen in the background during "Hot Wings").

* * *

><p>"Samba's not just music. It's a way of life."<p>

"Explain that to me."

Nico adjusted his bottle cap in frustration, angling it as if he was going into battle and fixing his face with a preparatory scowl. "Does samba make you dance?"

"Well…"

"Does. Samba. Make. You. Dance."

Blu relented. "Yes."

"And when it makes you dance, what do you feel?"

"Like…like I just have to move or something will explode inside me."

"You make it sound so negative."

"Fine, like I just have to move or music will escape my soul. I don't know."

"When something gets in your blood like that, until you just can't take it anymore and you've got to let it out, I'd say it surpasses music."

Blu's face communicated clearly that the argument was done. Nico turned to Javier, Rey, and Abelina.

"And that is why you should come to the Branch to hear your uncles Nico and Pedro."

"I wanna go, Papa!" Javier, the eldest and most rebellious of the Blue Macaw chicks, flew to his side and stared up at him with the big turquoise eyes inherited from his mother. "Why can't we go?"

"The Branch is not the place for kids your age. Which I've told your Uncle Nico more times than I can recall."

"It does sound fun, Papa." Rey was more like his pensive father, always putting a foot into the water first to test the temperature.

"Yeah, if you dance all the time, why can't we?"

"That's got nothing to do with it, Javier, if for some reason you decide you like samba, then when you're older you can go to the club—"

"But that'll take FOREVER!"

"Trust me, it won't."

"PAPAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"JAVIEEEEEEEEEER!"

Nico smiled at the chaos ensuing between father and sons. There really was no reason the kids could not come to the Branch one night. Risqué dancing was perhaps the worst thing they could be exposed to. The birds there didn't even drink alcohol. Well…when they couldn't manage to find it.

He nudged Abelina in the shoulder when Blu started threatening to set Javier and Rey up on a playdate with Rafael's children if they didn't stop pestering him. "Go ask him," he whispered.

Abelina glided dutifully to Blu's side, edging her way in between her two now frenzied brothers. "Papa?"

Her dainty voice somehow carried through the ruckus to Blu's ears. "What, sweetie?"

"I'd really like to go see Uncle Nico and Uncle Pedro. They sing so nice for us, they must be awesome when they actually perform."

Blu clearly didn't know how to handle denying his only daughter a wish so sweetly expressed. "Abby, I'm sorry, I just don't want you—or your brothers—going there yet."

Abelina looked crestfallen.

"I love you, that's why I'm saying you have to wait a few years."

Abelina scowled.

"I love you."

She did not return the sentiment.

"Oh, come on!"

"You're really going to deny your children the simple wish to experience music?" Nico feigned an expression of betrayal and held his cap over his heart.

Blu glared. "Where's Pedro?"

"Still asleep."

"And that, kids, is why you should not listen to your uncles."

Javier looked back and forth between Nico and his father. "So you're saying that if we go to see Uncle Pedro and Uncle Nico perform, we get to sleep more?"

"What? No, it's the middle of the day and Pedro is still asleep, that's bad."

"Sounds good to me."

"You're missing the point."

"Then what is the point?"

Pedro suddenly flew in out of nowhere, yawning and straining to keep himself aloft with only one wing. "What's up, mini macaws?"

"Uncle Pedro, Papa still says we can't see you perform!" All three kids rushed to his side, burying their faces in his soft and plentiful gut—Pedro still hadn't figured out why they liked to hug him so much.

"WHAT? Well you tell your papa that just because he's a lame-o doesn't mean you kids have to be."

"I'm right here," Blu said.

"I know."

"I've been trying to tell him," Nico piped in. "There's nothing wrong with the kids experiencing some samba."

"They experience samba all the time, you sing them to sleep practically every night."

"That's not samba."

"Whatever, it all sounds the same."

Nico's bottom lip quivered. Pedro, already surrounded by three disappointed children, lifted up his vacant wing in invitation to a fourth. Nico buried his head in the crook of his best friend's arm.

"Why is he always so mean?" the muffled voice said through Pedro's feathers.

"Oh, come on, Nico, I didn't mean that _all _samba sounds the same…" Blu guiltily explained. "Just…most of it."

Nico did not emerge.

Pedro, with one wing around three disheartened chicks and the other enveloping an injured friend, said, "I think you've done enough."

Blu sputtered in protest, but Jewel landed on the beach beside him.

"Why do my children look like they were just told we were shipping them off to military school?"

Rey snapped his head up. "You're shipping us off to military school?"

"It's just an expression, honey."

His brown eyes relaxed. "Oh."

"I told them they couldn't see Pedro and Nico perform," Blu explained to his mate.

"He's being lame, Mama."

"Javier, your father is absolutely right."

"WHAT?"

"It's not a good place for you kids to be at your age. Maybe in another year or so."

"That's what I said," Blu gloated triumphantly.

"Sorry, kids. That includes you, Pedro and Nico," Jewel said in a motherly tone.

Pedro scowled and Nico slumped against his side.

"Are you ready for your flying lesson?"

All disappointments surrendered to the more-likely-to-be-immediately satisfied desire of learning to fly. The kids yipped excitedly and ran to their mother with their little birdie feet.

"Okay, kids, follow me," Jewel said and took off. The kids clumsily flapped their wings until they ascended a little. Once airborne, they trailed slowly behind their mother, who calmly glided a ways ahead of them to give their inexperienced wings time to catch up.

As soon as his family turned to semi specks in the distance, Blu narrowed his eyes. "Stop agitating my children."

"Stop agitating Nico." Pedro pointed to Nico's sullen form.

"Nico, are you really that upset?"

Nico gleefully emerged from his hiding place. "Nah."

"Then stop agitating my children _and_ yourself."

"But it's so much fun."

"Guys, I know you want them to be able to come to the Branch, I do. And I know they want to go just as badly. But I can't let them, so stop getting them all worked up."

"Aw, come on, the Branch is not that bad. I don't see why they can't come just for a night."

"Because a night is all it takes."

"For what?" Pedro scoffed.

"The first time I went, a bird vs. monkey fight erupted. We all might have escaped unscathed, but a lot of birds—and monkeys—didn't."

Pedro and Nico were silent.

"And that was during the day! There's no telling what happens at night!"

"Pretty much the same thing…" Nico admitted.

"Does that sound like a safe environment for three young chicks?"

Both chastised birds looked at the ground. "No."

"You see my point."

"Yes."

"Can we be mature about this?"

Nico fiddled with his bottle cap, a sure sign he was mentally perturbed. "I guess you have a point."

"Pedro?"

The cardinal crossed his arms. "Fine."

"Thank you for recognizing and appreciating the safety of my children." Seeing his friends' sullen expressions, Blu continued. "Are you going to sing them a lullaby tonight?"

Nico perked up. "Yep."

Pedro nodded in agreement. Although soothing music was not his penchant, sometimes he played a tiny makeshift guitar constructed of string attached to a nut shell.

Blu smiled. "Good."

"Hey, boys, what's going on?" Rafael landed beside Blu, accidentally spraying sand into Blu's face with his large wings.

"Pedro and Nico just agreed to stop getting my children to conspire against me," he coughed.

"You guys are still on that?"

"Were," Nico said. "But, hey, we can wait a year or two."

"Good, because sometimes the Branch is not the place for children."

"We know," Pedro said.

Blu threw his wings up. "Why does everyone listen to other people when they say the same things I've been saying?"

"Calm down, Blu, everybody listens to Rafael," the Toucan said smugly. Blu muttered to himself in response.

Rafael turned to Nico and Pedro. "You two getting ready for the Best of the Branch?"

"You know it," Pedro said excitedly.

"What's the Best of the Branch?" Blu asked.

"A talent contest the Branch holds every year. Nico and Pedro here have won it four years in a row."

"And it's going to be our fifth," stated Pedro.

"When is this?"

"Tomorrow night," Nico said.

"Tomorrow night? Are you going, Rafael?"

"Of course. Even if these two weren't in it, it's a huge event."

Blu looked almost insulted. "Well why wasn't I told about it?"

Nico scratched his head under his bottle cap. "I guess we forgot about it. I keep forgetting you're new here."

"Rafael, do you think Eva could watch the kids?"

Rafael stared quizzically at the Blu Macaw. "You want my wife to watch your children?"

"Well they'll be asleep."

"Oh, yeah, sure. She never goes. She hates being social."

"Great, Jewel and I would love to come."

Pedro and Nico shared ecstatic expressions. "That's great, Blu!" Nico exclaimed.

"Yeah, besides the fact that you get to see us, I'm sure other people will be just as awesome. Probably," Pedro agreed.

Nico nudged his friend. "Didn't Raoul say he was competing?"

"Oh yeah, he's doing a drum solo or something."

"Raoul?" Blu asked.

"He drums for us a lot. The green parrot."

"Oh, I think I remember him. Do I know anyone else competing?"

"Nah, you're new," Rafael said. "But it's a great way for you and Jewel to meet some other birds."

"Or for the kids to experience some samba."

"NICO."

"Just kidding."

* * *

><p>A few miles away from the beach, amidst the noise and bustle of a city at lunchtime, Raoul the parrot sat perched on a railing at a popular venue. An orange parrot sat beside him.<p>

"So you're going to do it, huh?" The orange bird asked.

Raoul's green feathers practically glistened with envy. "I can't take it anymore."

"Amen. I'm glad to hear someone taking a stand."

"The way they think they're so cool, and how they get to perform spotlight any night they want, and everyone loves them—"

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. We're just as talented as they are."

"Don't I know it."

Raoul eyed a plate of french fries being carried to a table by a young girl. Protocol demanded that he wait until the family was finished to swoop in and take the leftovers, but he was not in the mood to bend his desires to a courtesy code.

The green parrot rapidly took off, lunged at the plate, and flew away with hot fried potatos clutched in his claws, leaving behind a screaming and terrified little girl. He landed again at his original perch. The orange parrot held out a wing for a fry, but quickly retracted it when he saw how voraciously his companion ripped into one.

Raoul swallowed. "This year, Nico and Pedro are _not _going to be on top. I guarantee that."

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><p>End Chapter One. Reviews are always appreciated, especially if you like the story, because the more reviews I get the faster I update. (Usually). So...go at it. (Please).<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Hello Readers: I have a couple notes before the story begins, although technically you don't really have to read them, you could just skip my ramblings and go down to the actual story content. But...here they are anyway.

1) My document uploader was being weird, and it posted the chapter like 10 seconds ago before I had the chance to proofread it and stuff, so I took it off real fast. This is why some of you might have multiple notifications. But this time it worked out the way I wanted it to, sooo...here it is.

2) This is a rather long chapter. Like 20 pages on Microsoft Word. Just a warning.

3) As my last point, I would like to thank a certain author by the name of Qille, because she helped me think of some ideas for this chapter. So...thank you :)

Here we go. Thank you to all my reviewers!

* * *

><p>Raoul smiled as Nico and Pedro flew in. "Where you guys been?"<p>

"Blu and Jewel wanted us to help put their kids to sleep," Nico said as he landed on the wooden board that served as the backstage area.

"Did you perform your act for tomorrow night's show?"

"Very funny," Pedro replied. "For your information, our act is going to be unbelievably awesome." He held his hand behind his back for Nico to high-five.

"Can't wait to see it. Can I get a preview?"

"Oooooooh no, no way we're letting you see our stuff before its time." Pedro frowned. "Don't try to be cheating."

"Aw, come on guys, you know me better than that."

"Nah, we trust you, bro." Nico fluttered to an upturned cup by Raoul's side and used the leverage to lean on the parrot's shoulder. "But it's bad tactic to reveal your secrets. You weren't going to tell us anything about your act, were you?"

"I guess not."

"So we're even."

"We're also up in a minute."

"Let's get rolling, bro!" Pedro projected himself through the torn bit of curtain hanging in front of the wooden board—the curtain divided the backstage area, really just an abandoned market stall, from the alley thronging with birds ready to have a good time.

"Party in Ipanima, baby." Nico followed closely. Applause crashed through the curtain, hitting Raoul like a wave. He allowed himself a moment to revel in disgust.

The orange parrot passed by. Noticing Raoul's expression, he said, "What did they do this time?"

"Showed up late _again _to a show _they _scheduled."

"I thought Miguel asked them to perform tonight because his girlfriend was coming for the first time?"

"Whose side are you on, Diego?"

"Why were they late?"

"Some more nonsense about being with those Blue Macaw kids."

Diego raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

"Again."

"You know what this means, right?"

"I'm not stupid."

"_RAOUL!"_ The parrot flinched at hearing Nico call his name. He'd almost forgotten he was supposed to go on stage. He turned to Diego.

"I've got a plan. I'll tell you after the set."

With that, he swept through the curtain and took his place at the drums, smiling nonchalantly.

* * *

><p>"Aw, man, that was some goooood stuff," Pedro drawled before tripping over nothing and falling flat on his face.<p>

"Pedro Pedro Pedro, how many times have I told you not to drink from the plastic cups the seagulls bring?" Nico said, exasperated, as he tried to lift his tipsy friend by the wing. Not an easy feat, since Pedro weighed about three times more than the little yellow canary.

"But…i'so good…"

"They're weird, man. They get all that stuff from the weirdos at the beach. And they can handle a lot more than you."

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah."

Nico edged himself under Pedro's wing and managed to get him halfway upright. "Next time…I'm leaving you...behind," he croaked out.

"Next time your FACE."

Nico pushed his bottle cap out of his eyes and prepared for a long walk home. There would be no flying for Pedro tonight.

"Hey, Raoul, RAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL!" Pedro waved frantically. The green parrot hovered in the air, looked behind him, and glided over to the staggering pair.

"Did he drink with the seagulls again?" he asked.

"We can never let him out of our sight," Nico explained sheepishly. "Give me a hand helping him home?"

"Sure thing."

Raoul supported Pedro's other wing and the three made their way through the abandoned nighttime streets of Rio de Janeiro, Pedro mumbling an unintelligible soundtrack under his breath.

"Is he going to be okay?" Raoul asked. The question didn't sound very genuine to Nico, but he dismissed it as a misunderstanding.

"He'll be fine by morning." It was true. Whatever ailment, Pedro had an astounding capacity to defeat it after a few hours of sleep. Sick, injured, drunk, when he woke up, it was like it never happened. Nico wasn't worried about the effect on tomorrow's performance, just jealous of Pedro's spectacular tolerance.

"Hey, how about we take a shortcut?" Raoul asked, pointing down a side alley that led away from the beach and the forest.

"I've lived here my whole life and never known about a shortcut from the Branch to the forest," Nico said skeptically.

"Well did you look for it before, bro?"

Nico shrugged. "Guess not." He wasn't sure about a shortcut that seemingly led away from home, but he had never been good with directions anyway, and he knew how the streets of Rio intertwined and led to surprising places. Besides, exhaustion was starting to set in, and the sooner Pedro got to collapse in their tree, the better.

Raoul took the lead, leaving a semi-recovering Pedro to walk with only Nico as support. Luckily, the cardinal's walking ability was slowly being restored, and Nico could tentatively let go of his wing and let Pedro walk normally. Or as normally as being slightly intoxicated allowed.

"How long is this shortcut, Raoul?" Nico asked, watching Pedro like a parent does a child just learning to walk. Pedro, for his part, was scrutinizing the ground like he expected it to throw him into the air. Which he probably did.

"Not very long. In about five minutes we'll be at a street that takes you straight to the forest."

"I don't want to go to the forest." Pedro crossed his arms. "I'm thirtsy."

Nico frowned. "No you're not."

"I want to go to the beach."

"No you don't."

"I don't trust the ground."

"Well the ground doesn't trust you."

Pedro yelped. "Why not? What did I do to it?"

"Smashed it with your face."

"I'll smash it with more than my face—"

Raoul wheeled around. "Pedro, chill, man! See? We're almost out of the shortcut!"

Nico and Pedro peered into the space past Raoul. The end of the alley was barely even in sight. Nico had to squint in the moonlight to see the vague outline of an opening.

"I see it! I'M GOING TO GET THERE FIRST!" Pedro took off, swishing past Nico in a clumsy, graceless flight.

Nico smirked as his friend tipsily flew towards the still distant exit. His smirk disappeared when he saw a tire slowly rolling off the roof of an adjacent house.

"PEDRO!"

"Don't distract me! You're not going to beat me, man!"

"_PEDRO!"_

The panic in Nico's voice cut through the intoxication enveloping Pedro's mind like a chainsaw. Pedro looked behind him, annoyed at first because Nico was just pointing, speechless. But his expression said everything words failed to.

Something was wrong.

Pedro followed Nico's finger to a tire rapidly speeding down the slope of a roof. He yelped and flew to his right as the wheel bounced off the gutter, flying between him and Nico, the scent of rubber trailing behind. It slammed into a trash can, filling the alley with the sounds of reverberating metal. Pedro covered his ears from the surprising volume.

"What was _that?_" Nico asked, his bottle cap askew from the force of the hit.

"A tire?" Pedro asked, sounding uncertain.

"No! I meant…_what was that?_"

"I just told you. A tire."

"And you don't think a tire falling off the roof of a building is a big deal?"

"I'm sure it happens all the time."

"NO IT DOESN'T!"

"How do you know?"

"Because…hey, where's Raoul?"

Both birds turned frantically in circles, searching for their absent guide.

"I don't know, dude, he was just here." Pedro didn't seem at all fazed about almost being run over by a disembodied tire and the sudden disappearance of a friend.

"Did he get hit by the tire?" Nico dove to the tire with the sudden realization. Lacking the resources necessary to lift it, he flew to the middle and flittered about wildly looking for any sign of Raoul.

"I don't know."

"Well help me!"

Pedro rolled his eyes and flapped next to Nico. He looked to his left. He looked to his right. Nothing. Clearly, he had assessed all that could be assessed for this investigation.

"He ain't here."

"Pedro…something's wrong."

"What makes you say that?"

"You are _never _drinking with those seagulls again! For one, a tire just rolled off a _roof, _which to me seems to be a very inappropriate place for a tire, and for the second, Raoul has just disappeared."

"You're overreacting."

"No, I'm reacting perfectly appropriate to the situation!"

"Worry Warbler."

"What? I don't warble!"

"Heh heh."

Nico's bottle cap popped off his head like it would pop off a freshly opened soda. "Pedro, I know you're not 100% right now, man, but I need you here with me." He grasped his friend by the shoulders and shook. "Get back to me."

"When do you need your answer by?"

Nico's scream of frustration was lost under the sound of something rolling down a roof. Both birds looked, views filled with déjà vu as another tire sped towards them.

"Pedro, move!" Nico pushed his friend with all his might and managed to shift both of them out of the tire's path. It hit the previous tire and the trash can with such force that the can toppled, glinting in the moonlight before slowly falling towards the cardinal and canary. Both closed their eyes for impact, but the tire, which had hit a wall after the trash can, ricocheted back and rolled in front of the looming threat.

The can knocked over the tire, which landed around Nico and Pedro, leaving them miraculously alive in the hole in the middle. The remaining moonlight disappeared as the can continued falling, landing on top of the tire and eclipsing their view of the night.

In the pitch dark, Nico struggled to return his breathing to normal. He groped blindly for Pedro, and released a breath when he felt his friend's feathers.

"Pedro, you okay?"

"That was SO COOL!"

"Sssssssh, man, I hear voices!"

The mumbles Nico's adept ears had caught only seconds ago grew louder as the friends hushed.

"There's no way they got out of that one," a semi-familiar voice was saying. Nico couldn't quite place it.

"They shouldn't have gotten out of the first one!" a much more easily placed voice said—Raoul. Nico stifled his gasp to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Sorry, it's dark, it was my first try."

"I thought you practiced?"

"How would I practice that? Do you know how hard it is, even for all of us, to get a _tire _onto a _roof_? I mean honestly, what kind of a plan is that?"

"Well you sure didn't help," Raoul scoffed.

"Anyways, look, they're obviously taken care of now." The voice clicked into place in Nico's head—Diego, Raoul's friend who substitute drummed whenever Raoul couldn't.

"I want to check just to be sure."

The can started moving, and Nico panicked. Luckily, Pedro seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation, because he followed Nico into the open groove of the tire. Hidden under the shadows, they held their breath as the garbage can clamorously rolled off.

Moonlight streamed in, and the shadows of two medium-sized birds loomed in the space where Nico and Pedro had just been.

"What'd I tell you?" Now that the interference of the garbage can was taken out of the equation, Nico definitely recognized the voice as Diego's.

"You idiot, where are they if they're not here?"

"Under the tire, duh."

Their hiding place started to move, and Nico knew they had no choice. "Let's go, Pedro!" He grabbed Pedro's wing and ran to the open space at the middle of the tire, taking off as quickly as he could.

"Shoot!"

"Get 'em!"

"How'd they do that?"

Several shouts from several different birds echoed around them—Nico had not realized how vastly outnumbered they were. Apparently Pedro hadn't either, because he somehow adopted the silly notion that he could escape by flying as slow as possible.

"Pedro, _speed up!_!" Nico kicked a white bird lunging at him. For his size, Nico's kick was surprisingly effective and very well aimed, and the bird fell to the ground.

"I don't want to leave the party!" Pedro whined.

Wishing he didn't have to deal with Pedro's intoxicated misconceptions of reality tonight, Nico dove back down, placing another well-aimed kick at Diego as he came rushing by.

A sharp pain exploded in the back of his head, and suddenly Nico wasn't aloft anymore, but laying on the ground. Diego grabbed him by the scruff of his neck before he could even moan.

"Shouldn't have done that, dude," he growled.

"Why not?" Nico asked, teeth gritted in both anger and pain.

"Because now you're more done for than you were before."

"Diego, Diego, calm down," Raoul said, landing behind his enraged orange friend. "I can handle this."

"What are you doing, Raoul?" Nico asked, his tone of voice indiscernible. Shock, fear, anger—he didn't have the energy to express it all.

"Claiming what's rightfully mine. I'm so sick of you guys being on top. Why don't I have that? Why can't I be respected like you—"

"What?"

"Why don't I have the same fame you guys have?"

"I-I don't know, people respect you!"

"Not as much as I want," Raoul snarled. "Because of you two. It's high time you and Pedro took a vacation."

Nico wheeled around—he had momentarily forgotten Pedro. His friend was flanked by two other cardinals, one each holding a wing. Pedro did not look fazed. At least his tipsy friend wasn't panicking.

"Vacation sounds fun."

"No, Pedro—"

"Ooo, let's us go there a place, travel, vacation, travation BRAZIL!"

"Pedro, there are so many things wrong with that sentence—"

"But Nicooooooooooo!"

"Yeah, but Nicoooooo!" Raoul mimicked Pedro's childish whine. "Let him go on the vacation."

"YES!" Pedro cheered as the two larger cardinals steered him away from Nico. "Where are we going, guys?"

"PEDRO!" Nico yelled out before Diego shook him by the scruff. That was really starting to hurt. "Let me go!"

"I will."

And then the world turned black.

* * *

><p>"But I don't want to go to the beach!" Pedro protested.<p>

"You just said you wanted to twenty seconds ago," one of the cardinals, a navy blue one, huffed.

"No I didn't. I said I wanted to go to the BEACH."

"…Yeah…"

"You're really bad listeners."

"Okay, dude, here we are." The other cardinal, whose feathers were brown, put out his wing to stop Pedro from walking.

"What's going on? Hey, where'd Nico go?"

"Your little friend's gone."

"…What?"

"Nevermind."

"No, what?"

Both cardinals exchanged puzzled glances. The mention of the yellow canary the boss had decided to handle had an almost instant sobering effect on the red-chested cardinal.

"He's not here," brown feathers repeated.

"Then where is he?"

Navy feathers shook his head. "You don't want to know."

As navy feathers shifted slightly, Pedro noticed what was behind them. Last time he checked, the Feline Adoption Center was not the beach.

"That's not the beach," Pedro said slowly, drawing out the words as if to be absolutely sure of the truth value.

"Nope," brown feathers said right before banging the gate with a stick.

A black cat suddenly appeared on top of one of the gate spires, prowling like one of the shadows it emerged from. Its yellow eyes gleamed viciously before pouncing.

Pedro screamed and started to run back the way he came, but tripped. The cat overshot its prediction, landing a good foot in front of Pedro, where the bird would have been had fleeing been successful. Pedro took advantage of this and backtracked as quickly as he could manage. He hit something, tripped backwards, and found himself staring up at the night sky.

Then the sky moved. He righted himself, and as he sat up he realized that the sky wasn't moving—he was. He had somehow stumbled into a wagon left untended that night by some child, and as luck would have it, that wagon had been left at the apex of a hill.

The last thing Pedro saw before the sudden descent of the rolling wagon was the cat staring greedily at his disappearing form, the other two cardinals looking like casino guests with no money left to gamble.

And then they vanished, their dark shapes replaced by speeding, swirling visions of pavement and trees and houses and market stalls and flowers—

The visions stopped abruptly when the wagon hit the side of a building at the bottom of the hill, jarring Pedro violently back into reality. Or some sort of reality—he didn't feel good, he might throw up, his head hurt, everything was meshing together into a rainbow, where was he? Where was Nico? What just happened? He needed to get home, that was where his bed was, he wanted breakfast, Blu and Jewel and the kids and Rafael, samba, singing, dancing, pelicans, cups…

Look! A bush! Pedro had not realized that during all of his rapid thoughts, his panic instinct had taken over, and he was flying clumsily away from the wagon. There was a bush in the little forest a ways from the road. It was the perfect place to sleep.

Pedro dropped into the bush like an anvil, feeling the scratches of twigs and leaves no more than a lion feels a passing flea.

* * *

><p>The cat licked its paw calmly as his bird comrades completely flipped their lids.<p>

"Why didn't you go after him?" Brown feathers looked ready to combust.

"I'd really rather not," he said.

"That was a free meal that just got away via wagon." Navy feathers, although handling everything more calmly than his partner, still seemed to be trying to prevent panic teeming to the surface.

"You realize there are two more free meals standing right in front of me?" the cat asked, eyes never leaving its paw.

"H-hey, that wasn't part of the deal!" Navy feathers stammered.

"What bargaining chips do you have?" the cat turned to face the birds. "I was told I would get a free meal with minimal hunting effort. I don't call chasing after a wagon speeding down a hill minimal effort."

"That's not our fault."

"It doesn't matter. I get all the food I need inside the center, I was promised a treat. I don't want to run down a hill just for a treat, especially as you two are here. I don't see why there can't be an exchange."

"That's not good business practices," Brown feathers said sternly, hoping he was coming across a lot more forcefully than he felt.

The cat's tail ceased its carefree swaying. "You have a point." He thought for a minute. "Where's the bird I negotiated with the first time?"

"Raoul?"

"Yes, Raoul, the green fellow."

"In an alley not too far from here."

"Take me to him. I'd like to renegotiate."

The two lackey cardinals exchanged glances. Raoul was not going to be pleased that Pedro had gotten away. At the very least, he'd wanted insurance that the annoying red-chested cardinal was out of Rio, if not completely disposed of.

But what were they to do? He _had_ gotten away, and pretending as if the plan had gone off without a hitch wouldn't please Raoul if their failure came back to haunt them later.

"Okay, we'll take you," Navy feathers said.

"But only if you make sure to tell Raoul that it was _your _fault you didn't chase the wagon."

"Assured," the cat replied, rising from its haunches. "Now let's be on our way."

* * *

><p>"…How far did you drop him?"<p>

"I didn't think it was _that _high."

"Well you sure knocked him out."

"Like I said…I didn't think it was _that _high."

Although Nico's head was throbbing, he was able to recognize that the voices floating above his head belonged to Raoul and Diego. He struggled to discern what they were talking about.

"…Do you think he'll ever come to?" Diego asked, not sounding like he particularly cared either way.

"If he doesn't, that makes our job done."

"Well that was quick."

Oh, right. They were talking about him. The last thing Nico remembered was being mildly strangled by Diego, and then…had he dropped him? He didn't remember being very high.

"Maybe it was his size. I mean, I figured since he was so little he wouldn't be that hard to dispose of, but…wow." Raoul sounded more confused than happy.

No way Nico was _that _weak. He almost opened his eyes to fight back, but then decided it might be better to just lay there. His head hurt and his body wasn't obeying his demands to move, anyway.

"Well shoot, what do we do with the body?"

On second thought, maybe laying here wasn't such a good idea.

Nico was about to force his aching body to move when he heard the rustle of wings from the other end of the alley.

"Hey, Raoul!"

"What—"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, what is he doing here?" Diego sounded frightened.

"Relax. I'm just here to talk to Raoul," a voice Nico did not recognize said. The sophisticated vernacular was followed by footsteps, not wing flutters.

"Fine. What do you want?" Raoul said, sounding like he wanted to be annoyed but was a little scared to show his true feelings.

"I did not get my free meal."

"What? We practically gave him to you on a platter! He was DRUNK!"

…Were they talking about Pedro? Nico struggled to keep his body still, despite the swirl of emotions threatening to control him like a puppet.

"Be that as it may, he tripped and fell. Onto a _wagon_, of all things. The wagon slid downhill, and me chasing after a speeding wagon did not fit my definition of a free treat."

"That's not my problem," Raoul said huffily. "You didn't keep up your part of the deal."

"This is where I get a little confused. What exactly did we bargain, Raoul?"

"You eat that fat bird, you get a free meal, and he's out of my life."

"Hm. That doesn't really give me much. I get all the food I want inside the adoption center, this really sounds more like me doing you a favor."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, you see, now I'm hungry. Give me one good reason I shouldn't eat your idiot lackeys."

Nico couldn't resist. He cracked open his eyes, and struggled against every survival instinct beaten into him over the years not to run away—a black cat sat not four feet away, tail waving lazily back and forth.

"Because that's not part of the deal!" Raoul yelled, not really paying attention to the cowering forms of his cardinals behind the cat.

"And that's why I'm here to renegotiate."

Nico took advantage of the suddenly erupted argument to slowly move himself (and his bottle cap) away from the cat, and towards a pile of boxes in the corner of the alley. Luckily, they were all facing the other way, and it only took him a few minutes—fear was a great motivator.

Once safely behind the boxes, he peeked out from the corner at the ensuing argument. He needed to figure out if Pedro was okay—Nico had already gathered that at least he hadn't been eaten, but then where was he? Passed out in a wagon somewhere?

"Look, I'm sorry you didn't get the stupid bird," Raoul said. "But maybe we can make a new deal after all."

"Oh? I'm listening."

"Obviously, I'm not going to let you eat any of my gang. But there is one more bird I need taken care of."

Nico took the hint that he should go.

"Eat him and find that stupid cardinal, and not only do you get your treats, but I'll make it even more worth your while."

"I'll take that deal," the cat purred, both menacing and pleased.

"He's right over—"

Silence overtook the group as they realized they were minus one yellow canary.

"Where'd he go?"

"I totally thought he was dead!"

"What is going on?"

The cat looked disdainfully over at Raoul, who already looked about to explode. "Looks like you've let me down a second time tonight."

"_Where is he?_" Raoul screamed, absolutely infuriated that a second one had gotten through his feathered fingers tonight.

"How should we know?" Diego asked, equally annoyed.

"I'll still make it worth your while if you hunt both of them down," Raoul grimaced at the cat.

"At first, I viewed this as an endeavor of unworthy effort," the cat said lazily. Then he grinned. "Now I view it as a challenge."

Raoul smirked at the cat's agreeability. Then he yelled into the night, "HEY! NICO! If you're still within earshot…_you_ might have gotten away, BUT THOSE BLUE MACAW KIDS WON'T!"

* * *

><p>Still just barely within the parameters of Raoul's crazed shouts, Nico looked behind him, as if looking backwards would make sure he'd heard correctly. He did not see the stop sign directly in front of him, and was unconscious before falling to the ground.<p>

* * *

><p>1) Yes, unconscious twice, I realize I am being very mean to Nico.<p>

2) In defense of the inclusion of drunkenness in my K+ rating...Dumbo and Charlie (from "All Dogs Go To Heaven") get WASTED.

3) As always, I appreciate reviews. Thank you much!


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so very much for all your reviews! I really appreciate that my readers are taking the time and effort to review the story, it really helps me get fired up to update faster! And if you haven't been reviewing...shame on you. But thanks for reading, anyway. :)

* * *

><p>Abelina recoiled as the water lapped at her feathers. "Mama, it's cold!"<p>

"No it's not," Javier said as he surfaced. "Stop being such a baby."

Jewel, lying in the sand a few feet away from her children, kept her eyes closed. "Javier, don't call your sister a baby. And Abelina, honey, if it's cold, don't go in."

"But I want to…"

"Then go in."

"But it's cold."

"Then don't."

"But—"

"I'm not going through that logic again."

Abelina frowned. Even Rey, usually the nervous one, was calmly floating on his back in the water. She didn't like not partaking in her brothers' revelry. If she wasn't so upset that Rey had chosen to be normal and playful while she stayed stuck on the sidelines, she might have warned him about Javier's rapid approach.

But she didn't, and Javier surfaced violently next to a startled Rey, who lost his balance and somersaulted underwater.

She giggled. Cold water or not, she had to be a part of this. Abelina dove into the shallow waters, pretty deep for her little birdie size, and paddled furiously out to join her brothers.

Jewel cracked an eye open and smiled at the sight of her children splashing wildly. Blu landed next to her. "Look how cute they are."

The female Blue Macaw nodded in agreement. "We're pretty good at procreating."

"Pretty good? They should give us an award."

"Don't I know it," she cooed as she snuggled up next to her mate.

"BLU! JEWEL!"

The high-pitched shriek practically stopped their hearts, ruining any chance of a romantic moment the Blue Macaw pair might have had. Turning around, they saw Pedro flying rapidly towards them, as if determined to beat the wind at its own game.

He landed next to them and held up a finger so the pair would give him a minute as he tried to catch his breath. Blu and Jewel shared an amused glance.

"Are you okay?" Jewel asked, noticing bits of leaves and thorns sticking at awkward angles from Pedro's feathers.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" Pedro huffed. Then he shook his head violently. "No, I am NOT fine!"

"Oh…what's wrong?"

"Have you seen Nico?"

"No," Blu said. "He's usually with you."

Pedro's face went from concerned to distressed.

"Okay, I think something bad went down last night, but I have no idea what it was."

Blu and Jewel raised their eyebrows. "You'll have to be more specific," Blu said.

"All right, well, see, Nico and I went to The Branch, and I was…um…having a good time," he said cryptically.

"Having a good time?" Blu questioned.

"Oh my God, Pedro, were you—"

Pedro didn't let Jewel finish her accusation. "NO! Not THAT kind of good time! I was…I had some stuff to drink."

She sniggered. "You mean you got—"

"Yes."

"And you wanted to take our children there," Blu said disapprovingly.

Pedro crossed his wings. "Well if they had been there, I wouldn't have drunk. Duh."

"Pedro, don't get sidetracked, what happened last night?" Jewel asked, more interested now that Pedro had revealed his intoxicated state.

"Well, that's the thing…I don't remember much…"

"What do you remember?"

"We got there, and we were singing, and then I met up with these cool seagull guys, and then…I-I know we were walking home, and Nico was there telling me something about the ground, and so was Raoul, and he was taking us a different way home. A shortcut, maybe?"

"Okay, what next?" Blu asked, glancing over at his children, still playing carefree in the water.

"Something came at us, something huge, I don't remember whether we were hit or not."

"Well obviously not," Jewel said.

"Oh. Right. Well…we were _almost_ hit then, because next thing I knew I was with these two other cardinals—"

"I thought you were with seagulls?"

"No, Blu, man, that was earlier! Stay with me!"

Blu huffed. "Sorry that your drinking escapades don't make sense."

"This is why I'm so worried, dude! Because next thing I knew, there was this cat!"

"A cat?" Jewel sounded skeptic.

"Yes! A cat! It came out of nowhere, girl! And then I think…I-I think I tripped over a wagon, or something with wheels, because everything was a blur, and then I collapsed in this bush."

Blu and Jewel met Pedro's monologue with blank stares. "That certainly explains the thorns," Jewel said in an appeasing tone.

"You guys don't believe me?" Neither of the Blue Macaws would meet Pedro's eyes.

"It's not that, Pedro, just…you weren't yourself last night. I just have a hard time believing any of that happened," Blu explained. "I mean, maybe it did, but that wasn't what happened, you know?"

"And you think I'm the one who's drinking?"

"No, I mean that maybe to your intoxicated mind that was what was happening, but it was something different in reality."

"Fine, then where's Nico?"

Silence took over as the couple tried to think of an explanation. Jewel tentatively asked, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"The last time I remember is right before the cardinals took me away," Pedro said slowly. A look of apprehension suddenly seized his face. "They mentioned him."

"What did they say?" Blu didn't look terribly nervous.

"I don't—I don't know."

"Maybe they were taking you home because Nico wanted to stay longer," Jewel proposed.

"No…Nico's never done that. If I'm…um…in an unfit state to go home, he's always there." Pedro scowled at the ground, as if it was somehow responsible for his confusion. "That's why I feel like something's up. It was so clear then, I remember being really super aware of what was going on, and now I have no idea."

"Well either way, we should probably find him," Jewel said.

"Have you checked if he's with Rafael yet?" Blu asked. Pedro shook his head, eyes still scrunched in a concerned, pensive expression. "Let's go see him. Jewel, would you mind terribly staying with the kids?"

Jewel grabbed her mate's wing before he could lift off. "I'm coming too."

"What about the kids?"

"Do you expect me to just wait around here while you guys solve the mystery? The kids can come," she said. She turned towards the water. "Kids! We're going to see Uncle Rafael!"

All three little blue heads peered from the water. "Can we stay here?" Javier yelled.

"No, you have to come with us!"

"But Uncle Raffy's kids scare me," Rey shouted, barely audible.

"Both of us will be there." Blu understood Rey's fear well, and secretly wished he didn't have to go to Rafael's tree. It was really quite terrifying.

The three kids swam to shore, shook themselves to dry off, and then clumsily flew to rest beside their parents.

"Blu, go ahead with Pedro," Jewel said. "We'll be right behind you."

Blu pecked his mate on the cheek and took off, trying to keep up with Pedro's rapidly disappearing form. Jewel let the kids begin to fly after their father until they were between her and Blu, and then took off to bring up the rear.

* * *

><p>Blinding sun pierced Nico's eyes, and he instantly closed them again. The familiar bustle and din of downtown Rio reached his ears in a slightly muffled state, and as he gingerly moved his wings, they hit smooth plastic.<p>

Slowly cracking open his eyes, Nico realized that he was not looking at the sun's corona, but a sliver of some sort of wrapper. He kicked the plastic covering off. The instant the semi-protection of the litter blew away, the sun's full heat washed over him. Judging by the heat and the position of the sun, it had to be almost noon.

The canary sat up, feeling remarkably less sore than he expected after being choked, dropped, and whacked unconscious. Twice. Last night was worse than the time Pedro experienced his first and only night terror, chucking a javelin at an attacking spider in his dream and thwacking Nico with a stick in real life.

A moment of panic overtook Nico as he realized his bottle cap was not on his head, but sweet relief replaced the adrenaline coursing through his body when he realized it was on the edge of the curb. He picked it up, dusted it off, and placed it on his head, regaining not only his precious hat, but a feeling of comfort and capability.

The feeling disappeared when he fully remembered the events of last night.

Raoul leading him and a drunken Pedro down an alley (how stupid were _they_?), two tires flying at them from the rooftops, Pedro being taken away, Diego dropping him, unconsciousness, a cat in the alley, mentions of Pedro, Raoul threatening the kids—

Raoul threatened the kids! That was what had happened right before he hit the stop sign! Nico glared up at the offending obstacle, happily noticing there were no dents, nor scratches. That meant he probably didn't have any on his body, either.

Nico sat down on the curb he'd spent last night on, legs dangling off the edge. He wanted nothing more than to fly off in search of Pedro and the Blue Macaws, but he had to clear his mind, had to think for a minute. The creepy cat said that Pedro somehow escaped, but where was he? Nico couldn't very well go flying around Rio looking for a random wagon at the bottom of a hill, no matter how worried he was about his missing friend. Rio was big, the wagon had probably been moved by now, and Pedro might have flown away already, anyway. No, it would make much more sense for Nico to go find Blu and Jewel, who were probably in one of their usual spots around the rainforest.

Angling his bottle cap in preparation for the frantic flight he was about to undertake, Nico jumped off the curb and flew into the midday sky.

* * *

><p>"Not since yesterday," Rafael told Pedro, Blu, and Jewel. "What's wrong? Did he take that really lame surfboard of yours again?"<p>

"My surfboard's not lame…" Pedro sulked.

"It barely stays afloat."

"It doesn't have to _work _to be cool."

"Says you."

Jewel interrupted. "Rafael, are you sure you haven't seen him?" Her motherly instincts were starting to surface.

"Like I said, not since yesterday." The Toucan gestured towards Pedro. "You two said you'd perfected your act for tonight."

Pedro's wing smacked his forehead. "The Best of the Branch! That's tonight!"

"How could you forget?"

"I've got a lot going on, man."

"Lay it on me."

"Better get ready for this one," Blu muttered.

"Okay, so I had a little to drink last night—"

"Were you with those seagulls again?" Rafael looked down his beak at the flustered cardinal.

"Maybe. Anyway, I remember heading home with Nico and Raoul…"

Blu looked towards the chicks as Pedro launched into his story. Javier and Abelina were gleefully playing tag with six of Rafael's dozen children, and Rey stood in the corner scrutinizing the game with all the studiousness of a scientist in a laboratory.

The identical eyes of father and son met, and Rey quickly sidled over to Blu.

"Why aren't you playing with the others?" Blu whispered, so as not to distract from Pedro's story.

"It doesn't look like fun."

Blu glanced at the playing field. One Toucan chick jumped on another's shoulders, toppling the both of them into a huddle of their siblings and sending off a domino effect of screaming chicks.

"Agreed."

Rey huddled into his father's side and the two turned back towards the spectacle of the day. Pedro had not yet stopped talking.

"…And then I woke up in a bush and went to find you guys."

Rafael stroked the underside of his beak. "It's a good thing you never get side effects from your actions the following morning."

"I don't know what to do, Raf."

"Are you sure that's exactly what happened?" he asked in a non-skeptical tone.

"From what I remember."

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Rafael said.

"Really?" Blu asked. "You feel like something's wrong?" The group had learned long ago to trust Rafael's eerily accurate instincts.

"I think so too," Jewel piped in. Her mother's intuition was also a respected source of information.

"I guess we've got to find him then," Blu said.

"Is Uncle Nico missing?" Rey asked, just now comprehending what the adults were discussing.

Jewel frowned. "Why aren't you playing with the other kids?"

"I didn't want to die."

"You aren't going to die, sweetie."

"Have you seen what they're doing over there?"

"Actually, it's a pretty legitimate fear," Rafael admitted.

"Honey, this is grown-up talk, why don't you at least go _try_ to play?" Jewel gently pushed her son towards the children's festivities.

"I don't want to! I want to know what's going on!" Rey crossed his wings and stomped defensively.

"We might as well tell him, Jewel," Blu said gently. "Rey, we're not sure where your Uncle Nico is, but we're probably worried over nothing. So don't you worry about it."

"Okay…"

"See? Crisis averted," Blu gloated.

"A crisis? To avoid a crisis there has to _be _a crisis!"

Blu's face fell.

"That means there _is _something wrong." Rey pointed at his father accusingly.

Jewel looked disapprovingly at Blu. "Nice going, Dad."

"Look, Rey," Blu tried to explain. "It's a little serious, but it's nothing you need to worry about. Just go play and let us handle it."

Rey scowled. He hated being left out.

"A little serious?" Pedro broke in. "We're performing tonight! If he's missing on the day of The Best of the Branch, that's past a little serious."

"Maybe I'm wrong," Rafael tried to sound comforting. "Like you said, it's performance day. He's probably just grabbing leftover smoothies from that stand at the boardwalk, or stealing the shoe shiner guy's rag to spiff up his bottle cap. I bet he'll be by your tree within the hour."

Pedro's expression went blank.

"…You didn't check your tree, did you?"

"No."

* * *

><p>Raoul's expression radiated disbelief, although his annoyed eyes never actually met those of the cat. "You couldn't find either of them <em>all night<em>?"

The cat flicked his tail, his version of a shrug. "Rio's a big place. Who knows where the cardinal went, and there was no telling how long the canary been gone before you finally noticed. He could have gotten anywhere."

"He couldn't have gone _that _far."

Diego watched Raoul and the cat argue. It was all they ever seemed to do—the cat kept reiterating the comforts of the adoption center, and Raoul kept stressing the prospects of a free meal. Although the entire gang had searched all night and morning, no one was able to turn up anything by the time Raoul ordained a meeting.

Behind him, sitting on the tires that had somehow escaped being moved from last night, the rest of Raoul's gang whispered amongst themselves. The ensuing battle in the alley was, Diego had to admit, good entertainment, and the result would dictate everyone's actions for the rest of the day.

"Maybe if you were better at playing hide-and-seek," Raoul menaced, "this would be done by now."

"You forget that this is a favor." The cat's voice, equally menacing, dripped contempt. "I will find those birds for you, and I will answer the challenge. But I will not be spoken to as if I were a child who lost his milk money."

Raoul tried to glare, but his confidence faltered. His audience could not blame him—he was up against a cat.

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

"As I am prone to do."

The frustrated parrot turned towards his gang. "What kind of leads do you guys have?"

"I didn't find anything, except some trash," Diego said.

"Indeed," the cat agreed. "All I came across was discarded litter."

"And no one could get anything out of anybody? No one from last night saw anything?"

"Most people we asked were aware that Pedro was drinking," the navy-colored cardinal offered.

His brown-feathered partner piped in. "And some of the ones who stayed later saw you offer to take them home. Miguel said he was about to help Nico when he saw you, and then he figured they were in good hands." He smirked.

"What else?" Raoul was a little concerned over the pelican proprietor of The Branch seeing him, especially one on such friendly terms with Nico and Pedro, but he pushed it from his mind. Bigger things were happening.

"Nothing."

Diego knew he would probably pay for the comment, but it couldn't go unacknowledged. "What are you going to do about the Blue Macaw kids?"

Raoul furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not entirely sure. But I think I have an idea." He didn't want to admit that the last-minute threat had been an empty one, something he yelled to slow Nico down. The kids were the first idea that popped into his head, the only butter his churning mind had yielded. Unfortunately for him, Raoul didn't know anything about the Blue Macaw family, except that they were friends with Nico and Pedro. He had never even met them. Given more time and resources, he could easily hunt them down with a much better plan, but last night's failures meant he couldn't afford to. Locating the two targets of his original revenge took top priority.

"Okay. Here's what we do," the green parrot said as he clasped his hands together definitively. "Diego, take Mike and Pete to the beach." He pointed at the cat. "You, go prowl the west side of town, the side you haven't done yet. The rest of you, go north."

"Where are you going to go?" Diego asked.

"I told you." Raoul said as he grinned. "I have a plan."

* * *

><p>The sounds of the rainforest enveloped Nico in a welcoming hug. There was no place like home. Too bad he couldn't appreciate it like he normally did.<p>

Although Nico passed over a few acquaintances on his way, he avoided eye contact with everyone to save time. He needed to reach Blu and Jewel's tree ASAP, there was no telling how serious Raoul's threat had been, or how quickly he could carry it out.

Only yesterday, Raoul, Nico, and Pedro had been friends, performance buddies. How long had Raoul felt such insane jealousy, an envy intense enough to provoke him to such drastic measures? Sure, Pedro received a lot of praise for his brilliant breakdancing, and Nico equal respect for his voice, but was it important enough for all this? Besides admiration, attention, and applause, their stage talent didn't give them that much. Well, girls flirted with them pretty frequently, but Nico had always assumed that was because of his natural handsomeness and charm. Granted, he didn't have an explanation for Pedro.

Flying at almost double his usual speed, Nico almost missed the large, open tree that served as Blu and Jewel's home. Lucky for him, the Blue Macaws had chosen a tree on the outer edge of the forest to be close to Linda's bird sanctuary.

He landed, exhausted, on a branch right outside the entry hollow. He rested for only a moment before bolting in.

"Blu? Jewel? Kids?"

No one was home.

* * *

><p>"No one's here," Pedro said dejectedly after glancing in at he and Nico's tiny abode. "If he's not home or with you guys, something's got to be up."<p>

"Well let's not panic," Rafael said. "Like I said before, maybe he's just running an errand or something."

"What errands do either of us run? And on the day of The Best of the Branch? And without telling me?" Pedro shook his head. "I've got a bad feeling about this, guys."

"Mama, what happened to Uncle Nico?" Abelina asked, tugging at Jewel's feathers. Rey, of course, had immediately informed his siblings of what was going on, and they had bluntly refused to stay with Eva and the Toucan children a moment longer. No bribes from either parent made a difference.

Jewel stuttered. "I'm not sure, sweetie." She looked at Blu. "Maybe I should take them home."

"NO!" All three children yelled at once. Concern for their uncle and a desire to be in the loop with the grown-ups had combined to make the adamant chicks downright scary to deal with. Blu gave Jewel a knowing glance—he was more used to this than she was.

"Well…I guess we can all go search the beach," Jewel said, still unsure if she should let the kids come along.

"We were just at the beach," Javier pointed out.

"But we've been gone for a little while. We can ask everyone there if they've seen Nico."

"I have an idea," Rafael broke in. "Blue Macaws, you go down to the beach and see what you can find there, and then go to the bird sanctuary and see if Linda can do anything. Pedro and I will go look downtown, talk to some of the Branch's frequenters, see if they saw anything. We'll meet at the sanctuary in, say, two hours. If none of us have any leads, we'll figure out what to do then."

Blu and Jewel nodded, their children adopting determined and excited expressions at being part of a grown-up search party. They looked to Pedro for confirmation.

His face had gone white.

"I remember what those two birds said about Nico," he said softly. Receiving no answer, he continued. "They said he was gone."

* * *

><p>As always...reviews are greatly appreciated, and Chapter 4 should be up fairly soon, although it is proving to be the most difficult to write so far. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

I just want to let you all know...this chapter very nearly caused the death of me. It is nothing short of divine intervention that I even managed to finish and upload it. So, some more special thanks to Qille, and also to Takara Matsudaira, for A) Letting me bounce ideas off of them, and B) For keeping me sane.

That being said...enjoy! (And of course, thank you for all your reviews).

* * *

><p>Pedro's grim realization had the same effect as lighting a firecracker—the group exploded, separating at top speed in a mad rush to locate any information about their missing friend. Blu went to the beach ahead of the rest of his family, leaving the more flight competent Jewel to oversee their children, while Rafael and Pedro launched themselves towards town.<p>

"Pedro, try to remember everything that happened last night," Rafael urged for the third time.

"I'm trying, man!" Pedro's wit had reached its end. "All I remember is them telling me he was gone! And then that cat came at me, and I tripped over the wagon, and I passed out."

"Did the cat come at you specifically? Like, just you, or was it after all three of you?"

"Now that I think about it…I don't think the other two ran at all."

"That's bad. If they weren't afraid enough of the cat to run, it was only after you…you were probably set up."

"And if _I _was set up…" Pedro gulped and landed on a window ledge. "Then that means…"

Rafael landed next to him, putting a hand on his friend's back. "I sure hope not."

"What else could it be?"

Rafael faltered. "I don't know."

Pedro looked, unseeing, into the lower streets of the city—he had never made it into town this fast, and his heart pounded from a combination of physical effort, anxiety, and guilt. If he could just find Nico…he would never drink again. Actually, scratch that, if he could just find Nico alive and well, he would never drink again. He shuddered at the other possibility.

Rafael recognized the emotions fighting their way through Pedro from the cardinal's expression. "It wasn't your fault," he said gently.

"What? Dude, this is all my fault!" Pedro lashed. "If I hadn't been drinking like I'm pretty sure Nico told me not to at the beginning of the night, I would remember what happened and if for sure he's in any trouble! Or, we wouldn't be in this situation! I can't tell."

"You had no way of knowing your drinking was going to be at an incredibly inopportune time. It's not like Nico's never handled that before, just this time…something went wrong."

"And I can't remember it! Can we just go? We're wasting time!"

Rafael nodded, taking off directly after Pedro. He crashed into his friend when he stopped abruptly in mid-air.

"What's wrong?"

Pedro pointed down and to the left. Just before the rise of a steep hill, a child's wagon lay in the street, the back resting awkwardly against a building and the side buried halfway in disheveled shrubbery.

* * *

><p>What to do, what to do? They weren't home, so where else could they be? Nico clutched his bottle cap in a panic, mentally flipping through his brain's file cabinet of probable locations. Blu's tree, Rafael's tree, he and Pedro's tree…somewhere that wasn't a tree…the beach, the smoothie stand, The Branch…at this point, he just needed to find anyone.<p>

An unexpected light bulb clicked on in Nico's head, illuminating one previously unthought-of possibility. And, thankfully, it was nearby. Nico popped off the branch, struggling to keep aloft from his far too rapid ascent, and flew towards the bird sanctuary.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you haven't seen him?" Blu asked, the desperation in his voice confusing the seagull wading in the water.<p>

"Like I said, not since last night," the gull answered. "I'd have remembered seeing him this morning, but I don't expect to see him until The Best of the Branch tonight."

Blu sighed. "Well thanks." That was the sixth bird he'd asked. No one knew anything about Nico's current whereabouts, although everyone said they'd seen him and Pedro last night. Jewel and the kids still weren't there, Blu suspected his children's inexperienced wings had grown tired from the abnormally fast flight and they had stopped for a minute.

"Hey, you!" Blu yelled at a passing brightly colored bird he vaguely recognized from flittering about the rainforest. The bird turned, pointing at himself with a questioning look to be sure Blu was talking to him. "Yeah, you! I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's Ferdinand," the bird said, making his way over to Blu. "I've seen you around. It's Blu, right?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for the mix-up. You know Nico and Pedro, right?"

"Everyone knows Nico and Pedro."

"Right. Have you seen Nico at all today?"

"I did for a second."

"Oh, okay…thanks anyway." Blu prepared to take off in search of a new interrogation, then did a double take. "Wait, did you say you saw him?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"He was flying right at the edge of the forest," Ferdinand said, bewildered at Blu's sudden intensity. "I didn't talk with him or anything, he was going pretty fast. He looked like he was in a hurry."

"The edge of the forest…which edge? The one closest to town?"

"That's the one."

Blu forced himself to shake Ferdinand's hand before taking off. "Thank you thank you thank you!" He propelled himself into the sky, nearly tripping over his own wings at first. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, but gained a steady wing beating rhythm by the time he was a few yards away.

Ferdinand watched Blu disappear in the distance. "Maybe there's a reason we don't know each other too well," he mused to himself.

* * *

><p>Rafael balanced on the edge of the wagon, his wing stroking the underside of his beak in a thoughtful gesture. Pedro excitedly flitted around the wagon, disappearing into the brush momentarily before proclaiming, "This is definitely it!"<p>

"You didn't come this way when you woke up?"

"I woke up in a panic! My first thought was to find you or Blu or Jewel, I guess I just didn't come this way." Pedro looked up the hill. "I fell down a hill…maybe retracing my steps can help us find Nico, man!" He started to fly away, but Rafael put a hand out to steady him.

"Slow down for a second, Pedro. I just thought of something."

"What? This is the only lead we've had all day!"

"No, no, the plan is good. It's just…you said the cat came specifically after you."

"Right, you already said it might have been a set-up, that's why we need to go find Nico pronto!"

"But we didn't say who was behind the set-up."

Pedro's energetic flutter ceased, and he landed beside his friend. "I guess that would be a major thing to figure out, huh?"

Rafael nodded, expression tense and pessimistic. "I think I might know who it is."

"Who?"

"Raoul."

"_Raoul?_ No way, man! He was helping us get home!"

"And look where you got to," the Toucan said, gesturing at the crashed wagon and infiltrated brush. "He was the only one helping you home, and then all this crazy stuff started. He's the only one who could've done it."

"But…he's our bud."

"Was your bud. I'm pretty sure he's responsible."

"But…why?"

"I don't know that part," Rafael admitted. "But it's the only thing that makes sense. He starts to help you get home, and then…did you say something almost hit you?"

"Yeah. And then I was with those cardinals, and Nico was gone. What if it was them?"

"Think about it. You didn't know those cardinals before last night. They had no reason to do anything bad to you."

"But neither does Raoul," Pedro said, voice betraying his flabbergasted state of mind.

"But at least he knows you. Let's face it, you're very unlikeable, I'm sure you could have done something to drive him to these lengths."

"What? I'm awesome!" Pedro protested. Then his face fell. "But I do lose track of my best friend in dangerous situations."

"Let's make up for that right now," Rafael said, sensing a mood swing in Pedro that the pair couldn't afford. He took off and headed up the hill.

Pedro shook his head, distorting the visions in his mind's eye of every awful scenario Nico could possibly be caught in. He knew what Rafael was doing, and that he was very right—they had to hustle.

* * *

><p>Blu knew he probably shouldn't have left the beach before notifying Jewel of his discovery. But he didn't know how recently Ferdinand had seen Nico—the question somehow didn't occur to the thrilled Blue Macaw during the conversation. And if Nico was heading where Blu guessed, he would have to head him off quick.<p>

Blu landed on the outside branch of his family's tree moments later, pleasantly surprised at his speed. Peering through the leaves, he didn't see any glimpse of yellow, and looked inside the hollow—Nico wasn't in there, either.

The Blue Macaw tree had seemed a likely place for Nico to be heading. If Ferdinand was not mistaken, and this was the direction Nico had been flying, Blu had thought for sure that Nico was going to find him and Jewel after the complicated events of last night. But…maybe not. Where else could the little bird go?

And suddenly Blu knew—he soared into the air, flying with almost complete certainty, towards the bird sanctuary.

* * *

><p>Nico hopped on the railing outside Linda's sanctuary. Glancing into the windows had yielded no results—neither Linda, Tulio, nor Fernando were there. Although he saw some other employees, Nico did not know them, and didn't feel comfortable trying to communicate with them via bird-speak. The three sanctuary proprietors were really the only ones fluent enough with the chirps and squawks of the species they protected to be worth speaking to.<p>

So Nico would have to settle for the vantage point from the railing. Squinting his eyes and lifting up his bottle cap to protect him from the sun's glare, Nico peered furiously at the beach, desperately trying to locate a familiar face. Pedro, Blu, Jewel, the kids, Rafael, even Eva or one of the three friendly humans would make his heart soar with joy right now.

But he couldn't find anyone. If the Blue Macaws weren't at home, the sanctuary, or the beach, _then where were they_? Surely Raoul hadn't—

Nico dropped his bottle cap at the train of thoughts roaring across the tracks of his mind. He couldn't go there, not yet, he would at least go check he and Pedro's tree for a sign of his friend, or Rafael's tree for the wise older bird. He would be able to help, and Nico was sure he would at least find _one _of them, and if not, then—

Nico almost dropped his bottle cap again when he saw flashes of blue on the beach. Three smaller shapes darted and revolved around a larger blue blur, who constantly beckoned to them to keep close. A wave of happiness and relief rose up in Nico at the sight of this makeshift solar system model, and he dove off the railing, hitting the air like a diver hits a wave.

* * *

><p>"Mama, where's Daddy?"<p>

"I don't know, dear," Jewel said, struggling to keep her teeth from clenching. Of all the nerve—here they were, looking for a missing friend, and Blu had to up and leave the beach without telling her.

"Daddy's missing, too?"

"Apparently." Jewel gently patted her daughter on the head. "All right, kids, stay close. Now we're missing two people."

"Daddy's probably better off if he stays missing, isn't he?" Rey asked.

"You read my mind."

The family, minus one member, made their way across the beach, the kids darting excitedly from one bird to another asking about their Uncle Nico. None of their subjects, nor Jewel's, delivered helpful answers.

"Mama, look, it's that one guy!" Javier yelled, pointing into the middle of a crowd of birds loitering by an ice cream cart.

"Specific, Javier."

"No, Mama, the guy who always knows everything because he hangs around the food carts all day."

"Oh!" Jewel understood now—Carlos was genuinely perceived to be the smartest bird around by the children, because he absorbed an amazing amount of gossip and the latest information about beach snacks by hanging around the carts twenty-four-seven. And at night, he frequented The Branch. Perfect.

"Come on, kids!" Jewel yelled—but they were already ahead of her, clearly ecstatic at an excuse to visit Carlos' Ice Cream Paradise.

Jewel's ears perked up, and she turned at the faint sound of her name—but all she saw were uprooted beach umbrellas tumbling across the beach after a sudden gust of wind. Forgetting that she heard any semblance of her name being called, she quickened her pace to catch up to her kids.

* * *

><p>Keeping track of tiny beach blurs, even brilliantly blue ones, proved to be harder than Nico thought. The moment he landed on the hot sand, he realized they were gone from the spot he'd seen them last. Calling Jewel's name, and then the kids', proved fruitless—a sudden gust of wind carried his cry away with it, along with a small umbrella into his face.<p>

Twisting and jerking to free himself from the constraints of the umbrella took only a moment, but Nico already knew he had completely lost any progress in finding the Blue Macaws.

* * *

><p>Linda didn't appear to be in today. Severely disappointed, Blu sank from the air onto the sanctuary's railing. Linda, Tulio, Fernando—no one he had been counting on was there. Worst of all, neither was Nico, and besides the Blue Macaw tree, this was the only spot on this side of the forest Blu thought Nico would be at.<p>

Blu used the vantage point of the beach from the railing to try to locate his family. Flying beach umbrellas completely obscured his vision, but he knew Jewel and the kids had to be down there somewhere—and so he dove off the railing, gracefully arcing through the air in pursuit of some familiar faces.

* * *

><p>"The Feline Adoption Center?" Pedro's voice could not have sounded more shocked had Carneval suddenly burst through the streets.<p>

"Well now we know where the cat came from," Rafael said, equally shocked. Although he had never doubted the presence of a cat, the location of a home for felines so near to the scene of the crime made it seem so much more…deliberate. "And that it wasn't just a cat that happened to be strolling by. You were led here, Pedro."

"Then…where did they lead Nico?"

Pedro and Rafael shared a glance. Their eyes confirmed they were thinking the same thing—the situation was suddenly a lot more serious than before. Pedro furiously wheeled around, looking for anything that might spur his memory.

He cocked his head at the sight of an alley. Why did that seem so familiar…? "I think they led me this way," he said, pointing in that direction.

Rafael nodded, following Pedro's careful flight to the alley on the other side of the street. Pedro looked at the surroundings as they came closer, and at the entrance, he yelped at what he saw laying the middle.

"Tires, Rafael! That's what came at us last night!" He zoomed to the inanimate objects, hovering over them as if to touch the tires would give him some sort of deadly disease. Pedro's eyes locked on an overturned trashcan, and suddenly all the events of last night hit him. Hard.

* * *

><p>Blu soared over the beach, wishing to be a hawk so this whole searching thing was easier. Three times now he'd thought he saw Nico, but one turned out to be a banana peel, one a recycled soda bottle with the cap still on, and strangely enough, a beach ball. Why he thought the beach ball was Nico, Blu had no idea—maybe there was a yellow spot on the plastic rainbow décor.<p>

He was unable to locate his family.

* * *

><p>"Carlos, do you remember what happened last night?" Jewel asked.<p>

"Sure," the bird, chubbier than Pedro from years of human junk food exposure, said. He turned to the three kids hopping around him, continuing their chorus of "Hi, Carlos!" even though their mother had told them to be quiet while she tried to get the necessary information. "Here, kids, let me get you a popsicle." He winked and ambled off to the nearest food vendor.

Jewel glared at her children. Rey and Abelina shirked, but Javier met her with a defiant glare. "What? We didn't ask."

"You didn't refuse."

"Mama, I want a popsicle…" Abelina said softly. Rey nodded.

Jewel sighed at her children's large eyes. They only visited Carlos once in a while, and although every time he managed to procure popsicles or tiny kid's cones of ice cream, she knew how kids were. Besides, they'd worked hard today, and she had been looking for something to distract them from the Nico dilemma. A popsicle would be perfect.

Carlos returned, gently tearing the plastic off of a purple popsicle. "I got purple for you today, Abelina."

The youngest Blue Macaw chick squealed, and she and her brothers tore into the treat as soon as Carlos set it down on the plastic wrapper.

He laughed, turning to Jewel. "Your kids have some good taste. Popsicles are the best."

"How do you do that, Carlos?" Jewel asked, peering over at the small collection of vendors—none of them seemed to be disturbed in the least.

"Years of practice."

Jewel cleared her head, forcing herself to concentrate less on Carlos' impressive food provision methods, and more on the day's mission. "Have you seen Nico today?"

"Nope. But I saw him last night, is that why you asked earlier?"

"Yes, actually. Do you know anything about what happened last night?"

"Did something unusual go down? I just saw him and Pedro perform. Pedro drank a little, Nico didn't. He usually doesn't. Nothing too weird."

"What about when they left?"

"When they left? Let's see…they were one of the last to leave, so was I…I know Pedro must have been tipsy. Nico must have had a hard time getting him home that night."

"You have no idea," Jewel said drily. "Look, no one's been able to find Nico this morning."

"What? What about Pedro?"

"Pedro doesn't remember anything, and he doesn't know where Nico might be. We've checked all the usual places."

"Huh…and on the day of the Best of the Branch?"

"That's why we're so concerned. You're sure you don't remember anything out of the ordinary last night? Anything at all? Any little detail could help," Jewel said, a slight hint of desperation cutting through her questioning tone.

"Well…I talked to Miguel before coming home…"

"Miguel?"

"He's a pelican, he runs the Branch. Y'know, as in he found the alley we use and schedules performances and stuff."

"Oh."

"I talked to him last night, and he said he was about to offer Nico some help getting home when Raoul showed up, and then he figured they were in good hands, so he left."

"Raoul…their drummer, right? Pedro mentioned he was there."

"Yep. Sorry I can't be of more help." Carlos paused for a minute, indiscernible thoughts running across his face. After a minute, he ventured,"But hey…if it means anything, I never really liked Raoul."

"Why not?"

"Couldn't tell you. There's just something off about the guy, I get these weird vibes. Know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I get your drift. And I guess he was the only one to go home with them last night…"

Carlos looked pensive. "My feelings probably aren't spot on, Jewel. But I'd think about questioning Raoul. And I mean…questioning." He punched his palm and lowered his eyes.

"I'll add it to my repertoire." Jewel looked at her kids, licking their beaks and violet stained wings. They were just dripping with the stuff. "Kids, let's go."

"Kay, Mama!'

"What do you say to Carlos?"

"Thanks for the popsicle!"

"Yeah, thanks, man!"

"It was yummy!"

"Anytime, kids. And hey, Jewel, I'll keep my eyes peeled for Nico. I'll send someone to let you know if I find anything."

"Thanks, Carlos!" Jewel waved, and took off with her chicks. It was almost time to meet everyone else back at the bird sanctuary—but first, the kids needed a bath.

* * *

><p>"Well, this is what I get for leaving," Blu muttered. He couldn't find his family anywhere on the beach. People always managed to find them on a daily basis, but now when it counted, they had turned invisible.<p>

Disgruntled, Blu took one last glance around the admittedly large beach—nowhere. Well, he had to meet everyone back at the sanctuary, anyway. Jewel would be angry, and Blu wasn't looking forward to flying back to a place he just came from, but maybe Linda was back. Besides, it was likely that Pedro and Rafael had found something in town.

Blu turned away from the water, ignoring the sounds of splashing and squeals to focus on returning to the bird sanctuary.

* * *

><p>Squeals erupted after Nico flopped in the water, sending up a tiny splash that somehow doused the neighboring swimmer. The yellow canary smiled sheepishly, lifting his bottle cap in apology, but the female parakeet frowned and fluttered angrily away to a less populated area of the water.<p>

Whatever. Normally Nico would flutter right behind her, offering smooth apologies and some crack about how the water surrounding her should be sizzling because she was so boiling hot, but it just wasn't in him. Not counting the events of last night, he had been hit by beach umbrellas, a Frisbee, and an extremely colorful beach ball.

He doused his face in the water again, hoping his quick dip would serve its purpose and provide him with a refreshed mind. It did not.

At least not right away. While contemplating the likelihood that Rafael would be home, or Pedro somehow back at their tree, a startling possibility came to mind—actually, Nico couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier.

Submerging himself one more time to obtain the full effect of the cooling waters, Nico paddled furiously to the beach. The moment he hit the sand, he took off, drying and flapping his feathers simultaneously as he headed to the one friend and place he hadn't thought of.

* * *

><p>"Guys, I meant this to be a quick rinse to get the popsicle juice off of you," Jewel said, exasperated at how easily her children could be distracted.<p>

"But Mama—"

"No buts, Javier."

A small but sudden wave of water splashed over, dousing Jewel a little bit but mostly hitting a female parakeet next to her. She couldn't see the offender, but sensed the parakeet leave in anger. Normally she would have dealt with it, but she was in a hurry.

"Come on, kids, do you want to find your Uncle Nico or not?"

As the chicks swam to the shallower part of the water Jewel stood in, she glanced over at the vague area the splash had come from—no one was there, although bubbles at the surface suggested someone underwater.

She couldn't wait for the splasher to surface. They should be at the sanctuary by now. Javier, Rey, and Abelina finally reached the shore, and after vigorously shaking their feathers, they took off after their mother.

"Hey, Jewel!"

Jewel stopped at the sound of her name, wings flapping to keep her aloft. She turned to locate a familiar face, almost doing a complete 360, but her search yielded no results.

"Jewel!"

Her eyes landed on a green parrot. He waved. "Hi, Jewel, my name's Raoul! I know Nico and Pedro! Could I talk to you?"

Jewel beckoned to her kids to follow her and landed beside Raoul. "Hi, I don't think we've ever met."

"No, but Nico and Pedro talk about you all the time. Besides, there's only one female Blue Macaw in Rio, so you're not hard to recognize."

The Blue Macaw in question laughed. "I guess you're right. Actually, I'm really glad I found you, you were with Nico and Pedro last night, right?"

"Yes! And I'm glad I found you too, they're in trouble!"

"Do you know where Nico is?"

"Yeah, and Pedro too!"

Jewel blinked. "We found Pedro. He's with Rafael. The Toucan, I assume you know him, too?"

"Oh…yeah, I know Rafael. Did you say Pedro's with him?"

"Yeah, Pedro came to find us right away. We just don't know where Nico is."

"Oh, right, right, that's what I meant to say…I know where _Nico _is."

Jewel, sensing something not quite right, spread her wings a little more over her children. "And where would that be?"

"Well, I know, but you'll have to follow me there."

"You can't just tell me?"

"…There's no time for that!"

"Why not?"

Javier peeked out from behind his mother. "Just tell us where our uncle is!"

"Look, kid, I would, but I don't think you know where it is. It'd be better if you just followed me there."

"Raoul, we're terribly worried about Nico," Jewel said slowly. "But we have to meet the rest of our search party. If we don't, they'll think we went missing, too, and we already have too many missing people on our list. So how about you go get Nico, since you know where he is, and tell me the location and I'll see if Rafael and Pedro know it? And we'll meet you there as soon as possible."

Raoul was silent for a minute, contemplating Jewel's proposal. "Okay," he said after a while. "Nico's fine right now, he's just hiding out in this place in town. But I know for a fact that it's about to be renovated, and I don't think he knows, so we have to go get him."

Raoul told Jewel the place, and Jewel nodded, already familiar with the location. Then she and Raoul took off separate ways, each of them hurrying as fast as they possibly could, but for much different reasons.

* * *

><p>Linda still wasn't there. Blu pouted on his perch at the railing, the second time he had been there in a couple hours. If he was forced to fly back and forth all day, he at least wanted results.<p>

"_BLU!" _

The angry yell jarred Blu from his sulking, and he turned to see Jewel and his chicks flying towards him.

"Jewel, before you start—"

"Where have you been?" Blu's mate jabbed his chest as soon as she landed. "Nico's already missing, God knows what's going on, and you just _disappear _in the middle of a search party?"

"Well, see, I was at the beach, but then I left—"

"WHY?"

Javier and Rey giggled behind their mother. Daddy was in some serious trouble.

"I got a tip, I'm sorry, I figured I should hurry—"

"A tip?"

"A bird I asked said he'd seen Nico earlier this morning, flying around here. I thought he might be trying to find us at our tree, and I didn't want to miss him, because I didn't know how recent the tip was—"

"And you didn't think to _ask?_"

"No! I got excited! I'm sorry, I went to check there and here, but he wasn't anywhere, and then I went back to the beach but I couldn't find you."

Jewel stared, still making up her mind about whether to beat him.

Blu, sensing the indecision, flinched. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"Fine." She dodged the kiss Blu tried to offer. "I got a tip of my own, too. A much better one."

"Really? What?"

"I saw Raoul on the beach, you know, the parrot who was helping them home last night?"

"What'd he say?"

"Well, I'm not sure I trust it, but he said he knows where Nico is—"

Heavy panting cut off Jewel's discovery, and Rafael and Pedro suddenly landed, both out of breath. Rafael recovered first and raised his wing to speak, but Pedro cut him off.

"Guys—bad—remembered—everything—"

"What he means to say," Rafael said, taking another recovery breath, "is that he remembered everything that happened last night."

"Well that's good, isn't it?" Jewel asked.

"Yes, but the content is bad," Rafael said, looking over at his still wheezing friend.

Pedro took a deep breath and launched into an unfortunate story for the third time that day. "Nico and I were going home, and Raoul offered to help, and he said there was this shortcut, and so we followed him."

"God knows why," Rafael muttered.

Pedro continued. "Except, when we were in the alley, this tire came out of _nowhere, _and Raoul disappeared, and then a second tire flew off a roof, and it hit the wall, I think, and it fell on us but we were in the middle, and then the trashcan fell, and we heard Raoul talking about how he wanted to get rid of us, and then one of them grabbed Nico, and the cardinals took me to an adoption home for cats—"

"What?" Jewel exclaimed, just as shocked to hear of the deliberate intent as Rafael had been.

"Yes! And then I tripped and fell onto the wagon, and I flew away, and I passed out."

"…And those two cardinals told you Nico was—"

"Gone. Yeah." Pedro, still winded, breathed heavily in an attempt to restore his lost air.

Rafael, eyes never leaving Pedro's desperately hacking form, said, "You can see our problem."

"Well this is huge!" Jewel exclaimed again. A sudden bolt of realization struck her face, but no one noticed in the midst of the rest of the paranoia.

"So you guys were set up?" Blu asked. "Well if you got away, maybe…"

"We'd better hope for it," Rafael said grimly.

"Well…what do we do now?" Blu asked.

Jewel opened her mouth to speak, but a tiny voice suddenly broke in—"Daddy, what does set up mean?" Abelina stared up at the adults with quizzical eyes.

Jewel, still frozen in shock, could not answer. Blu assumed it was because she had no idea how to handle this particular question.

"Um…it…it means…" he stammered.

"Is Uncle Nico on a date?" Javier asked.

"Yes! Wait, no, that's not it…"

"It means Raoul tried to get rid of me and Nico," Pedro said crossly. "As in—" he demonstrated the intent by slicing his hand across his throat.

The kids gasped.

"Thank you, Pedro," Blu said sarcastically. "That was an artful way of explaining it."

"Better than yours. Now what do we do? Besides me remembering everything, Rafael and I got nothing!"

"Oh, wait, I did," Blu said, instantly cheering when he remembered his news. "I talked to this one bird from the rainforest, he said he saw Nico flying around here this morning."

"Around here?" Pedro looked like Santa had just delivered him hand-wrapped samba music. "That means he's okay! Right? He was probably looking for us!"

"That's what I thought. I checked our tree, but he wasn't there, and then I checked here, but he wasn't here, either. That doesn't mean he wasn't at one point, but I think it's a good sign he was at least seen."

"I got a tip too," Jewel said, finally finding her voice. She glanced at her children. They had quieted down by now, but still looked shocked. Jewel wondered, in light of this new information, if she shouldn't be involving them anymore. "And…well…it's from Raoul."

"What?" Pedro and Rafael both exclaimed.

"He found me at the beach, and he told me he knew where Nico was. He tried to get me to follow him, but I declined because, well…something was just a little off."

"Good thinking, Jewel," Blu said, obviously relieved. He put his arm around his mate as she continued.

"Anyway, I didn't know if he was telling the truth or not, so I told him to go ahead there and find Nico and we would meet him after finding each other." Jewel paused, unsure of how to phrase her next bit of information. "He said that the place Nico was at was about to undergo renovation, and Nico didn't know, which seemed fishy to me. But if Nico's hurt…"

"Then stopping someplace would make sense," Pedro finished for her. "Especially if he was so hurt he couldn't go anywhere."

"Exactly. I figured it was about a 50/50. What do we do?" Jewel glanced at her children again, who looked like middle-aged women staring enraptured at a soap opera.

"I don't know, and Linda isn't here," Blu said. "Otherwise, we could request all of her employees go look…"

"You're all forgetting one thing," Rafael said. "I think Raoul _does _know where Nico is. But only because he's keeping Nico there."

Pedro's eyebrows declined in fury. "Then let's go!"

"Where was it, Jewel?" Rafael asked, keeping a hold on Pedro to prevent him from flying away without everyone else.

"That's what doesn't make sense," Jewel said. She told them, and Rafael gave a knowing, but concerned, smile.

"I thought so."

* * *

><p>That was disappointing. Raoul knew his story had been half-baked, especially since he started out claiming to know where both Nico <em>and <em>Pedro were. But how was he supposed to know Pedro had somehow found everyone? His misinformation had definitely clued Jewel that something was wrong, and Raoul wanted to punch himself in the face for speaking without thinking.

Had he found Pedro first, planting the idea of Nico randomly stuck somewhere would have worked perfectly. He had known that Rafael would never fall for it, and had blindly hoped the mother Blue Macaw would. Apparently she was smarter than he'd thought.

But the plan had accomplished something. His quick thinking had helped Raoul inadvertently figure out the one place he had not checked for Nico, and he knew no one in his posse had, either. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, how had Nico's own friends not even known?

Well they certainly knew now. Jewel would make sure of that, undoubtedly she was replaying the conversation to her friends. Raoul's plan had failed him in this respect once again, an excuse to tag along with Jewel had not come to him quickly enough—how could he justify not going to Nico if he really cared and really knew his location?

Even if they didn't fully trust the tip, Nico's gang of friends would think the same way Raoul did. Once the place was suggested, they would undoubtedly go, it would be absurd not to check. And Raoul had a plan.

A much better one.

* * *

><p>Reviews are always appreciated! (I mean REALLY appreciated.)<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

More thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 4!

* * *

><p>"Why don't you go <em>faster<em>?" Nico kicked the power line atop the trolley, as if the physical manifestation of his anger would somehow force the vehicle to speed up. It did not, but the pain shooting up Nico's leg sure traveled fast. He glowered at the small dent his kick had left behind.

Forced to sit momentarily to nurse his wound, Nico's thoughts wandered, yet again, to Pedro and the Blue Macaws. Where _were _they? Was Pedro still unconscious in a bush somewhere? What if Raoul had actually found the Blue Macaws? But that didn't make sense, if he had, the envious parrot would have found some way to make Nico know.

But then again, he had been on the move all day. Nico's thoughts bounced back to Pedro—he found himself wondering once again what had become of his best friend. A hangover for the party bird was not likely, which was a relief. Had Nico been the one drinking, he would still be unconscious and probably be sick for at least two days, but Pedro's weight prevented him from suffering the same fate as the little canary. Nico silently sent a prayer of thanks to the Samba Gods for endowing his friend with that gift—yes, he was probably fine.

Blu, Jewel, and the kids, on the other hand…Nico had only known them a relatively short while, but could not imagine Rio without them. He reminded himself that, although he did not have much faith in Blu, Jewel was one tough bird. His racing heart calmed as he realized she was smart and strong enough to prevent any harm from befalling her family.

The rational part of Nico's mind gradually assuaged his fears. Pedro would wake up with no side effects, he would probably go find Rafael (who everyone flocked to whenever they were in trouble), and most likely had already. They would warn the Blue Macaws, the rare and vibrant birds were never hard to find (except _today_), and everything would be fine. Right? Then Nico and Pedro could astound the kids with their tale, forgetting to mention all the drunkenness and unconsciousness it involved, and they would sound like total studs. To both the kids and everyone at The Branch.

_The Branch! _Nico violently popped up, sending his bottle cap into the air. It landed on his head along with the realization of the importance of tonight.

_The Best of the Branch._

The monumental talent contest had completely slipped his mind, amidst everything else that had happened in the last 24 hours. The 'coincidence' really should have occurred to him because of the timing of Raoul's so-called 'revenge', but Nico forgave himself—he thought he was handling a stressful situation rather well. But now it was time to kick it up to the next level. Nico propelled himself off the trolley with all the force of a pogo stick, determined to fly faster than the trolley moved.

He did not see the pair of yellow eyes that followed him across the sky, nor heard the bush rustle as he passed over it.

* * *

><p>Pedro, Rafael, and the Blue Macaws landed on the trolley, exhausted from the catch-up flight. Pedro was out of breath for the third time that day, and as he collapsed he promised himself that he would never physically exert himself ever again.<p>

Rafael angled his wing so Javier and Rey, who had ridden on his back, could descend onto the trolley. Blu did the same for his daughter—the children had been reluctantly allowed to come along, but only because they adamantly refused to be left out of anything, even going so far as to threaten to run away should they be left behind with Eva. Jewel and Blu grudgingly allowed them to accompany the search party, not wanting to waste any time in argument. Their one stipulation had been that Rafael carry the boys, and Blu Abelina, to prevent the kids from falling behind. Everyone needed to stay together.

Javier and Rey hopped down, stretching their wings as if they had actually done something. Abelina thanked her father, and at their parents' glares, the boys did the same to Rafael.

"No problem, kids," Rafael said, chuckling at Blu and Jewel's faces. Ah, to be a parent. _In more ways than one, _he thought as he looked over at Pedro concernedly. "You okay?" The gasping cardinal was not known for his tremendous physicality, despite his unquestionable skill and vigor when it came to break-dancing.

"I'm fine," Pedro said, quickly regaining breath after a moment of rest. "I'm glad we finally found the trolley."

"Mama, was this here before?" Javier asked, head tilted at a strange dent in the power line.

"Hm. No, I don't think so," Jewel answered.

Rafael, more familiar with the trolleys than anyone else, did a double take when he saw the imprint. "Ha, looks like someone kicked it pretty hard."

Pedro, who would normally laugh, didn't really care. He sat at the edge of the trolley, legs dangling off, like a small child contemplating some wrongdoing of his. "Rafael, what if he's not there?"

"Then we keep looking."

"And what if he _is _there, and something went wrong—"

"You can't worry about that. We'll find him."

Pedro sighed, flopping down onto his back and staring at the sky. The sun was just beginning its descent, transitioning the day into late afternoon, soon to be early evening. The Best of the Branch was fast approaching.

Scowling, the red-chested cardinal forced himself to think less of the talent contest he would most assuredly miss, and more on his missing best friend, who took precedence over a forgotten performance. Although Rafael constantly told him not to dwell on the grisly possibilities, he could not stop—and he doubted the Toucan could, either. But the older bird was much better at saving face than Pedro, especially in front of kids, and he knew that was why Blu and Jewel seemed to have such calm composures, too.

Rey tugged on his mother's wing. "Is Uncle Pedro okay?"

"He'll be fine as soon as we find your Uncle Nico, sweetie," Jewel said in a hushed tone, not wishing to bother Pedro's current pensiveness. Blu nodded, steering his children away to the front edge of the trolley. "This is where your mother and I had our first romantic date, kids."

Javier and Rey gagged while Abelina cooed. Jewel laughed. "Your father choked on a floating apple blossom."

"I was planning on leaving that out of the story," Blu muttered.

Rafael jumped in. "You were the most embarrassing protégé I'd ever had."

"Nico sang to them," Pedro offered, who despite his distant expression, was completely in tune with the entire conversation. Then he burst out laughing, remembering that Nico had been so involved in the song he had failed to notice Blu gagging. Nico did that a lot when he sang.

Rafael smiled, thankful for Pedro's laughter. Today's events had weighed everyone down, naturally, but he was worried about Pedro in particular. He could tell the cardinal was struggling to behave somewhat normal under such great stress. This didn't surprise Rafael, since Nico and Pedro were one of those rare duos who could spend umpteen million hours together and still find things to talk about. The two were rarely separated, and Nico being in any sort of danger was enough to send Pedro over the edge. The reversed situation was also true, but dealing with the calm, collected canary would be easier than his spazzoid cardinal counterpart.

Knowing it wouldn't have any effect, but deciding to try anyway, Rafael leaned down next to Pedro and said quietly, "I know you're worried, but this isn't going to help Nico."

Surprisingly, the cardinal listened, a steely glare enveloping his face. "All right, let's get going. We can get there faster if we fly."

"That's my boy," Rafael said, offering his wing to Javier and Rey. They scrambled up, and after Abelina had settled onto her father's back, the group took off again, flying just as fast as Nico had moments earlier.

* * *

><p>Raoul's speed surprised even himself, especially because of his unfamiliarity with the route he had taken. Luckily, he chanced across Diego, who, although no more familiar with the directions than Raoul, provided good company and support for what he was about to do.<p>

"You couldn't find anybody else?" Diego asked, landing on the roof.

"An unfortunate side effect to sending people all over the city," Raoul said. "But the cat knew to meet me here. He, at least, should be on his way."

Diego glanced at the sun, preparing to set over the horizon. "It's getting late."

"I'm aware."

"And if this doesn't go as planned?" Diego's tone clearly indicated that he didn't expect it to.

"Then they'll at least miss The Best of the Branch." Raoul made it equally clear that he would relish any sort of victory from the day's cataclysm, no matter how small.

There would be time for new revenge.

Raoul mentally flipped through the details of his plan, occasionally asking Diego if he knew what to do.

"You know what the signal is?"

"He'll be around?"

"He'll come around."

Diego nodded, making a note to prepare himself when he heard the phrase. He embraced his back-up duty, not feeling the insignificance others would feel in his situation.

And so they waited.

* * *

><p>Nico burst into the garage. "LUIZ!"<p>

He received no answer. Turning in circles to maximize visibility yielded no results, all he saw were the various saws and jacks and tools that cluttered the small space.

Nico had thought for sure that the bulldog would be here; he hardly left the garage for fear of missing visitors or leaving his owner unprotected. The owner didn't even appear to be here, but that wasn't terribly odd—Luiz usually left the garage door open when his owner was absent so his friends knew they could visit. But still…not being able to locate any of his friends over the past few hours greatly concerned Nico. Or just ticked him off. He couldn't decide which.

Thinking that Luiz might be out back, Nico fluttered off to fly around the side of the garage.

The cat followed him.

* * *

><p>Pedro, flying a little faster than Blu, Jewel, and Rafael, landed first. "LUIZ!"<p>

No answer.

He wheeled around to face Rafael, whose face was almost covered by two Blue Macaw boys fighting to get off the Toucan first. "Where could he be? He's always here!"

Rafael answered with equal bewilderment. "I don't know. Maybe he went to The Branch early?"

Pedro groaned, both at Luiz's nonappearance and the reminder of the rapidly approaching talent contest. His noised concern was lost under Blu and Jewel's reprimands.

"Javier, Rey, apologize to Uncle Rafael! Climbing off of him like that, honestly. You couldn't just wait for him to stretch out his wing?"

"Sorry, Mama…"

Rafael laughed. "Honestly, guys, I deal with a lot worse on a daily basis. The boys are keeping me fit."

"See?" Javier beamed.

Jewel glared weakly at her oldest son. "Rafael, don't undermine us."

"Seriously, dude, it's hard enough already." Blu said.

Rafael smirked in response. His smirk disappeared when he saw Pedro's downcast expression.

"No one's here, Rafael," the cardinal said dejectedly. "Not Luiz, not Nico. Not even Raoul."

Unfortunately, Rafael could not dispute. "I knew there was no way this place was undergoing a renovation. Maybe he's out back," he tried.

"Luiz, Nico, or Raoul?"

"Preferably one of the first two."

Determination attempted to replace the failure in Pedro's eyes, but his hope wasn't quite strong enough. The determination gave up, leaving a strained combination of perseverance and dejection on the cardinal's face. Rafael knew it was a result of the steady decrease of Pedro's will as the day wore on.

"Let's check out back," he suggested.

"You won't find him there," a voice said.

Pedro's mind placed the voice at the same time as he saw the speaker, a green parrot, descend from the roof of the garage. An orange parrot followed him. "Raoul?"

"The very same."

Many choice words and thoughts, most of them inappropriate to say in the presence of three young children, trafficked through Pedro's mind. What came out was, "Where do you get off?"

Raoul raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember what I told you last night?"

"Refresh me."

"Heh. Figures. You're getting too big for your britches."

"Too big for my britches? What? Who _says _that anymore?"

"…I do!"

"My britches are the perfect size, thank you very much!"

"No they're not! They're too small!"

"YOU'R FACE IS TOO SMALL!"

Rafael rolled his eyes at the childish insults erupting from the two arguers. He glanced at Blu and Jewel, who were sheltering their children with their wings. Their expressions made it clear that they were expecting a much more frightening confrontation.

"No, YOUR face is too small!"

"You can't just recycle my insult!"

"Why? Recycling is good for the planet!" Raoul fired back lamely.

"YOUR FACE IS GOOD FOR THE PLANET!"

"That's a compliment!"

"Not if I say it's not!"

"That doesn't matter!"

"Your face doesn't matter!"

"Stop with the face insults!"

"WHERE'S NICO?" Pedro finally screamed, reaching his breaking point for the third time that day. His feathers stuck up as if reacting to a static shock, reflecting his frazzled nerves.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Raoul said coyly, transforming from his kiddish whine to a scary and sophisticated demeanor almost instantly. The Blue Macaw children, who had actually been rather entertained by Pedro and Rafael's argument, shrank back behind their parents.

"Where. Is. Nico?" Pedro asked again, more forcibly. Rafael moved behind his friend, his presence adding even more force to the question.

"That depends."

"On?"

"Whether you perform at The Best of the Branch tonight."

Pedro started. "That's what this is about?"

"I want to win."

"_No!"_

"Then Nico's a goner."

Pedro started again. "No."

"Not a valid response."

Pedro lost whatever words he had been going to say. Besides 'no', absolutely nothing occurred to him.

Rafael spoke instead. "You're saying that we don't get Nico back unless Pedro agrees not to perform at The Best of the Branch?"

"Exactly."

Rafael and Pedro looked at each other, communicating with their eyes, almost to the point of telepathy. They looked back at Blu and Jewel, who seemed to be resisting involvement for the sake of their children.

Pedro shot Raoul an angry grimace. "Fine."

Rafael's glare was no less fierce. "I don't see we really have a choice."

The green parrot nodded. "Good."

Rafael crossed his wings. "So where is he?"

"He'll come around." Raoul smirked maliciously.

"What?" Pedro asked, suddenly fearful.

"I said HE'LL COME AROUND," Raoul said loudly, trying to glance inconspicuously towards the corner of the garage.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pedro asked, looking in the same direction.

A crash suddenly erupted from the backyard.

* * *

><p>Nico clutched his wing as the pile of spare auto parts and random tools thundered down around him. Pulling out the mini screwdriver at the bottom of the pile to use as a precautionary weapon was not one of his better ideas.<p>

A few metal nails shot out of the falling debris, one hitting Nico's wing at a weird angle. Using his right wing to shelter his smarting left, he managed to trip out of the way until the pile of junk ceased to fall.

Before the crash, Nico had almost thought he'd heard voices—he nearly turned around when he heard someone call Luiz's name as he flew around the side of the garage, but no sound had come afterwards. Assuming his stress, anxiety, and sudden influx of hunger was screwing with his senses, Nico had continued. But as he searched the backyard, he could not shake the occasional murmurs he heard floating from the front, and was at least 50 percent sure someone was up there. Unsure if the unknown inhabitants were friend or foe, Nico had scoured the pile of random junk from the garage, elated when he spotted a mini screwdriver he had a chance of effectively wielding.

But for some reason he hadn't realized the consequences of pulling an item from the bottom of a huge pile of teetering, potentially dangerous things. And now Nico's left wing was paying for it—not so much of a problem for anyone else. But Nico was a leftie.

Poking his wing for lack of a better medical method, Nico concluded that the wing wasn't broken, and probably not even sprained. Just sore. He flapped it tentatively, and realized at the sharp stab of pain that he probably wasn't going to be able to fly for a while.

"Perfect," a voice behind him dripped. Nico's heart stopped pumping when he recognized the voice.

Turning around slowly, he saw the cat from the night before, sitting casually on its haunches and waving its tail. It smiled. "This just makes my job easier."

* * *

><p>Although the sound had ceased, the crash still resonated within Pedro's ears. "What was that? <em>What did you do to Nico<em>?"

Raoul opened his mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The sound did not come from the open-mouthed, slightly nervous-looking green parrot, who looked in surprise towards the backyard.

Nico burst around the bend, running as fast as his little legs could manage. One wing clutched his bottle cap as he slid around the corner, righting himself quickly to continue running. Before anyone could react, a black cat dove past the garage wall, very nearly pouncing on the small canary.

Everyone suddenly found their voices.

"NICO!" Three voices all rang at once. Three smaller ones chorused, "UNCLE NICO!", immediately followed by shrieks of "A CAT! A CAT!"

Nico, running the opposite direction of his gathering of friends and distracted by dire peril, turned instinctively at the sound of his name. Upon seeing everyone he had been looking for all day all congregated in the same place, he stopped in shock. The shock momentarily stole all Nico's words, but he found them soon enough. "WHERE HAVE YOU PEOPLE BEEN?"

"WATCH OUT, MAN!" Pedro screamed as the cat prepared a second pounce. Nico looked behind him, but it was too late—he threw himself to the ground as the cat lunged, but the already tiny canary was even harder to hit when crouching, and the cat overshot.

Peeking from beneath his askew bottle cap, Nico saw the cat land and realize the canary was not underneath its paw. He took advantage of the cat's momentary confusion and popped up, running back the way he came.

"FLY AWAY, MAN!" Pedro shrieked, arms waving wildly.

"I CAN'T!"

Pedro noticed for the first time that Nico was holding his bottle cap with his right hand, and not his left. Rafael didn't miss it, either. They immediately flew to Nico's assistance.

They didn't get very far. An orange blur side-checked Rafael, and a green one Pedro, sending all four birds to the ground in a heap of scrambling feathers and wings. An excited Javier rushed to join in the fray, but Jewel, anticipating her boisterous son's movement, held him back.

"GET OFF ME!" Pedro yelled, kicking Raoul in the side of the face. Raoul tumbled sideways, landing rudely on top of Diego, who Rafael had easily pushed off with his large wings.

Nico almost joined the tussle, but it occurred to him that the cat was still giving chase—he couldn't head towards his fighting friends or the Blue Macaws without also bringing the feline threat. Sensing the cat closing in on him, Nico veered sideways, planning to go back around the corner of the garage where his makeshift weapon lay beneath piles of rubble.

The cat, duped for the second time in the last thirty seconds, slid into the side of the garage wall after Nico veered violently to the right. Nico continued running towards the backyard, severely upset that he could not take advantage of another head start by flying.

Rafael and Pedro, standing up quickly in an attempt to hurry away from their attackers, saw the Blue Macaws flying to the top of the garage. Knowing that at least the kids would be safe brought them relief, but their anxiety levels spiked right back up when they also saw Nico running to a deserted dead end pursued by a cat. Both took off quickly. Raoul and Diego recovered and followed a second later.

From atop the garage, Jewel and Blu panicked.

"What do we do?" Blu shook Jewel by the shoulders.

"Stop doing that!" She demanded, brushing his wings off of her. "I don't know, we can't leave the kids, but we can't leave them either, what do we do?"

"I just asked you that!"

"Mama, Mama, there's a cat down there!"

"Yes, I am aware, Abelina! No, don't go for a closer look, you stay _right here_."

"But Javier is going—"

"WHAT?"

Both frenzied parents turned to see Javier hopping across the roof for a better view of the action in the backyard. The chick kneeled down on the drainpipe and leaned over the edge.

"_JAVIER!" _Both parents, each already holding a child, chased after him.

"But Mama, Papa, look!" Javier, in a tone that suggested he was doing no wrong, pointed into the backyard.

Nico was navigating his way through a pile of random junk, frantically searching amongst the rubble. His face brightened as he lifted a screwdriver, adjusting his weight so as to hold it with only his right wing. His momentary balance problems and lopsided swishes made it completely obvious that he was useless with his right hand.

Behind him, Rafael and Pedro rolled with Raoul and Diego, having become entangled again. The cat breezed past the tussle, prowling towards the canary. Nico turned around to face the cat, wielding the screwdriver as best he could with one hand.

Blu and Jewel, against their better judgment, prepared to leap from the roof in their best attempt at defense when they heard barking.

Luiz tore around the corner, trailing rivers of drool that, along with his loud and angry barking, gave the bulldog a fierce appearance. He pounced at the same time the cat did. They met in mid-air, the bulky dog easily overpowering the slender cat—they rolled to the ground, stopping in front of Rafael, Pedro, Raoul, and Diego, the cat pinned down underneath a triumphant Luiz.

"Awright, Luiz!" Nico cried, brandishing his screwdriver victoriously. "Where you been, man?"

"I took myself for a walk," Luiz explained, menacing expression completely disappearing as he looked at Nico. The menace reappeared when he turned back towards the cat. "Good thing it was a short one."

"Good timing!" Pedro yelled, pinned on his stomach beneath a stunned Raoul. Raoul glared at the cat and started to say something about the signal, but Pedro elbowed the parrot in the face, and he promptly fell off. Rafael performed an impressive uppercut on Diego, and the other parrot joined his friend on the ground.

"HI LUIZ!" All three Blue Macaw children waved as they hopped delightedly on the roof.

"Hi kids!" Luiz's tail wagged at the sight of the excited children. Rafael coughed and crossed his arms. The tail wagging ceased. "Oh, right." The bulldog, although he had not yet lessened his grip on the cat, applied a little more pressure. "Now what's going on here?"

Nico and Pedro both jumped into loud, frenzied explanations, each pointing accusingly at Raoul, Diego, and the cat. Rafael coughed again, more loudly this time. The canary and the cardinal fell into subdued silence.

"Thank you. I'll explain," The Toucan took over. "These two," he said, gesturing towards Raoul and Diego, "tried to get rid of Nico and Pedro last night so they could win The Best of the Branch for once."

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID LAST NIGHT—"

"THEY SICCED A CAT ON US, MAN! DO YOU KNOW HOW WRONG THAT IS—"

"Guys, guys, guys!" Rafael waved his arms to quiet Nico and Pedro down. "You are _way _too keyed up to explain right now."

Both Nico and Pedro frowned, but realizing Rafael was right, obeyed. They instead communicated their disgust and anger by fixing their glowering eyes on their three offenders.

"Anyway," Rafael said. "Today has been one search after another, and these two"—this time he gestured towards Nico and Pedro, who were making faces at the cat—"are lucky to be alive."

Luiz 's expression became angrier than before. He leaned in closer to the cat, dripping saliva on its face. "What should we do about it?"

"You know that place down by the river?"

"The van?"

"That's the one."

"Got it."

Luiz growled again, nudging the cat up and gesturing with his head towards the front yard. Although the cat hissed, it dutifully trudged a little ahead of the bulldog, knowing full well that it was outmatched in both running and brawling.

As the dog and cat left, Pedro leaned over to Rafael. "What's in the van down by the river?"

Rafael smirked. "A crazy old man who really, _really _likes dogs. They don't get out much."

Pedro snickered. Suddenly remembering the reason they were here, he started and looked towards Nico, who was smiling goofily. Before he could say anything or fly over to his best friend, a scream erupted from the rooftop.

Diego held Abelina over the edge, glowering menacingly. She squirmed, but the tiny chick was clearly no match for the larger bird.

Rafael and Pedro wheeled around, where both parrots had gone missing.

Blu and Jewel looked astounded from the other corner of the roof, and it was obvious that they'd thought Abelina was directly behind them. Jewel folded her wings over her other two children, almost completely obscuring them from sight. Blu, eyebrows furrowed in fury, stepped in front of his mate and sons.

"Give me back my daughter," he said, love and desperation working together to keep the tremor from his voice.

"Wouldn't you like that," Diego replied, clutching Abelina a little tighter.

Rafael and Pedro stared transfixed at the events on the roof, slowly moving closer as if being nearer would help retrieve Abelina. Nico narrowed his eyes and forced himself to look away—Raoul was still missing.

He was rewarded when he saw the green parrot quietly picking through the pile of rubble, looking for a weapon. Nico, still holding the screwdriver, swung it as best his right hand could manage. Although it missed Raoul's abdomen, Nico's preferred contact point, the screwdriver hit the parrot in the feet, toppling him onto the ground.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Nico brandished the screwdriver in Raoul's face, an effective threat even if it trembled wildly. "Make Diego let go of Abelina."

Raoul frowned, but knowing that Nico could pound him even with his off hand, gestured to Diego to give up the girl. He grimly obeyed, setting her down roughly. Abelina scrambled into Blu's arms, and he held her before depositing her inside her mother's wings along with her brothers.

Nico had turned to see the exchange. It was a mistake.

Raoul grabbed a rather large spare bolt laying to his right and swung it while Nico's back was turned. The bolt slammed into Nico's left wing, eliciting a cry of pain and sending Nico to the ground. He dropped his screwdriver.

Pedro and Rafael leaped into action, at Nico's side almost instantaneously. Pedro picked up the screwdriver and used it to tarry Raoul's next swing, this time with a wrench. The heavier wrench knocked the screwdriver out of Pedro's hand, and Pedro yelped and ducked as Raoul swung it a second time.

Rafael had taken a different approach, coming in from behind. Before Raoul could swing again, the Toucan pinned his arms, forcing the parrot to drop the wrench.

Diego had not missed any of the action. He leaped on Rafael from behind, awkwardly putting Rafael in a sort of parrot sandwich. He grunted, trying to restrain Raoul and buck Diego off at the same time.

Pedro recovered the fallen wrench and swung it hard at Diego, hoping his aim was true and he would hit his target instead of Rafael. Surprisingly, it worked—Diego toppled off, unconscious from the force of Pedro's hit. The cardinal whooped for joy and did the same to Raoul, much easier to hit because Rafael held him back.

Pedro and Rafael, both panting, smiled at the sight of the two unconscious enemies lying on the ground. Then they remembered the third unconscious bird.

"Nico!"

Both frantically wheeled around, painfully expecting to see Nico bleeding, unconscious, or some combination of the two. Instead, he was sitting upright, bottle cap as lopsided as the grin on his face.

Pedro and Rafael exhaled in relief, but Pedro recovered quickly, whacking Nico on the side of the head.

"_OW!" _

"Don't _ever _do that again!" Pedro crossed his arms, staring down his beak at Nico. Rafael stifled a chuckle in the background.

"What, get knocked on the head by a crazy parrot?"

"_Or _go missing, _or _get kidnapped—"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"_I'm _the one who's been missing? Do you know how hard I've been looking for—"

Three blue blurs suddenly cut off Nico's confused outburst.

"Uncle Nico, that was awesome!" Javier said, tackling the still sitting canary back to the ground.

"I missed you!" Abelina squealed, following her brother's suit.

"Uncle Nico! Uncle Nico!" Rey dove in on the bird pile, echoing his siblings' elation at finally finding the elusive canary.

Nico laughed as Blu and Jewel peeled their children off of him. "Missed you too, kids." He sat up, supporting himself with his right hand. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine, Nico," Jewel said.

"What about you?" Blu asked.

Pedro slipped his hands under Nico's shoulders to help him off the ground. Nico opened his mouth to reply, but instead of a reassuring "I'm okay", a cry of pain slipped out as Pedro touched his left wing.

Pedro immediately let go, his sudden lack of support sending Nico right back to the ground. "Sorry sorry sorry!"

Nico sat back up, frowning at his left wing. "It's cool, man. I don't know what I did to it."

"You mean what Raoul did to it?" Rafael asked, helping Nico back up, taking care to only touch his right wing.

"Before that some junk fell on it, and I couldn't fly with it," Nico explained. "I didn't think it was broken or sprained or anything."

Rafael gingerly took his wing, examining it as closely as he could. "Hm. I think you might have sprained it."

"Let's take him to Linda," Blu suggested.

"What? No!" Nico tore his wing from Rafael, struggling to keep his pain silent. "The Best of the Branch starts, like, really soon!"

"Oh yeah!" Pedro slapped himself in the face. "Where do you get off going missing on today?"

"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO'S BEEN MISSING!"

"Boys, boys," Rafael pushed both birds away from each other before they could start strangling the other. Although he knew this was their disguised way of showing affection, he had no time for their roughhouse. "Nico, your wing is hurt. You've got to get to Linda."

"What? Oh, you think my wing is hurt? Naaaaaah." Nico waved it lazily to prove its good health.

"I can see in your face that you're struggling to keep from crying."

"First, I don't cry, second, it really is feeling better." Actually, the second point wasn't a lie; Nico could move it now without extremely painful side effects. Although he still doubted he could fly with it.

"Look, I know you two want to perform, and God knows we want you to," Rafael said. "But if Nico's hurt, it's really not a good idea."

Nico and Pedro locked eyes. Nico's wing really didn't hurt all that much, and he doubted it would hinder their performance a great deal. Besides, Pedro did most of the dancing; Nico did most of the singing. It was an even trade. Pedro, of course, did not want Nico performing with an injury, since admittedly Nico did dance some and Pedro did sing some. But…Nico really didn't seem all that affected by it. And their song was only, like, four minutes long, surely that wouldn't hurt Nico anymore than he was already, right?

The two friends communicated all this in only a glance. Choosing their option, they broke into a sprint, running away from the sound parenting advice of Rafael and the Blue Macaws.

Rafael could not keep from laughing as the friends rounded the corner, Nico yelling at Pedro to wait up because he couldn't keep up with his flight. They were acting like criminals on the run.

"What do we do now?" Blu asked as Nico and Pedro visibly disappeared. Acoustically, it was like they had never left. Both were still shouting about the irresponsible actions of the other.

Rafael smiled. "We let them go."

Jewel looked flabbergasted. "What? Nico's wing is injured, Rafael, we could easily go get them and force them to Linda's."

"I'm with you, Jewel, but this thing only comes once a year. And I know how hard they've been working on their song." Rafael sighed. "Besides, Pedro won't let Nico get any more hurt than he is already."

Blu and Jewel still looked unsure.

"And it'll be hilarious to watch them run away like they think they're committing the crime of the century."

That they couldn't argue with.

"But what do we do with them?" Blu asked, gesturing towards the two unconscious parrots.

"Leave 'em. My bet is that when they wake up, they'll head straight to The Branch. Don't forget Raoul is performing, too. And when they get there…" Rafael's eyes narrowed in a knowing smile. "Let's just say the frequenters of The Branch don't like it when one of their own is threatened. Especially when the threat _comes_ from one of their own."

"Mama, can we please come?" Javier asked, tugging on his mother's wing. "We've been good today, haven't we?"

"No, _Rey _has been good today." Jewel glared disapprovingly at Javier and Abelina. "You two both left our sides, which we strictly told you _not to do_."

Abelina's bottom lip quivered, and Javier's large turquoise eyes wavered dangerously. Blu looked away. Noticing his resistance, Abelina hopped into his direct line of eyesight again. Blu continued to try to avoid her. It did no good.

"Well, Jewel, you know…they have been through a lot today…"

"You're not seriously suggesting we take them? You were completely against it yesterday morning!"

"Yeah, but, under these circumstances…"

"It seems kind of unfair to make them go through all of this and then they don't even get to see the end result," Rafael said.

Jewel shot him an angry scowl.

"I can personally guarantee that no harm will come to your children, physically or mentally." Rafael raised his right wing in a solemn oath. "You have the word of Rafael."

Jewel rolled her eyes, realizing she was completely outnumbered. "Fine."

All three kids whooped in excitement. Rafael chuckled.

"All right, guys. We've got a performance to get to."

* * *

><p>Yep, Nico and Pedro do perform a song in the next chapter. I plan on doing a songfic-type thing with the lyrics in italics.<p>

One quick note: The next chapter is the last. *Unless* I decide to do the next chapter and a sort of epilogue. I haven't decided yet, but I will be taking votes-so tell me in your reviews whether you would prefer one last chapter, or a slightly shorter Chapter 6 with a Chapter 7 epilogue. I'm deciding this democratically.

Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

***IMPORTANT* *IMPORTANT* *IMPORTANT* PLEASE READ (BECAUSE IT'S *IMPORTANT*):**

My author's notes are actually *IMPORTANT* this time. Nico and Pedro perform a song at The Branch in this chapter, and the song I chose is "More" by Usher. To my credit, I actually did try to look up some Jamie Foxx songs, but they were all kinda whiny and all about love. But then I heard this song on the radio, and I could NOT get Nico and Pedro out of my mind. It just fit. I also thought that Usher's voice sounded enough like Jamie Foxx/Will. that readers (and me) could easily imagine Nico or Pedro's voice in its place.

***STILL IMPORTANT***: And so, now that I've explained my song choice, *PLEASE CONTINUE READING* (**REALLY** IMPORTANT STUFF DOWN THERE):

Here is the link to a radio remix version of the song that I chose because it's a little bit more upbeat and techno entertaining. I STRONGLY recommend reading through the performance once (about the middle of the chapter, just so you know what's going on), and then RE-READING it with the song playing in the background. I'm not just saying this to get you to reread my stuff, it actually is pretty cool if you listen to it and imagine Nico and Pedro performing it. Or at least, I think so. Without further ado, here is the link (copy and paste into a new tab, and then just play the YouTube video while reading):

.com/watch?v=Tgssr5HTbaE

***EXTREMELY IMPORTANT***: If the link doesn't work, and I seriously doubt it will because for some reason fanfiction won't let me copy and paste the whole link, (but I thought I'd keep it up just in case anyway), just type **"Usher More Radio Edit"** into the search bar on YouTube. It should be the second result, the picture is of the word "Music" looking very 3D and colorful. The uploader is 'famouzmusic', and he/she types everything in Hungarian or something, but it should be okay. If you're having trouble finding it, feel free to message me about it. Because I really think the song is cool and the chapter isn't quite the same without it ***(hence all the trouble I'm going to to make sure you guys read my notes.)***

One last thing:

Disclaimer: I do not own the song "More" by Usher. I give Nico and Pedro credit for writing it in the chapter to fit the story's needs, but it is Usher's. Just to avoid any confusion.

Thank you for reading my rather long and erratically bolded Author's Note, I apologize, but it had to be done! And so...enjoy Chapter 6. :)

* * *

><p>Pedro burst into The Branch and promptly doubled over, gasping frantically for oxygen. Nico followed seconds later, still running at top speed. The canary didn't have time to slow down, and collided with the cardinal, sending both to the ground of the alley. Despite their desperate need for air, both friends erupted in fits of laughter.<p>

Their laughter grew when they noticed the expressions being sent their way. Birds of every Brazilian kind, flocked together for tonight's monumental event, stared at the two birds laughing on the ground. Most of the audience knew Nico and Pedro by sight, which added to both the weirdness and the hilarity of it. A few birds let out small chuckles, but one angry pelican waded his way to the front of the crowd.

"Where have you _been_?" The pelican's eye twitched slightly.

"Everywhere," Pedro said, helping Nico off the ground. "I mean, Miguel, dude, you don't even want to know."

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I know we're late," Nico said nonchalantly. "But we got it covered."

"Do you? You're up after the next act," Miguel said, brandishing towards the stage. A parakeet had just finished and was leaving the stage so the next act could prepare. Nico and Pedro's rather sudden entrance had apparently stalled the proceedings, although luckily they hadn't interrupted the actual performance.

"Don't worry about it, bro," Pedro said. "We'll go backstage. Our back-up here?"

"Of course, because some people adhere to common courtesy." Miguel crossed his arms and stared at Nico and Pedro in a reprimanding fashion.

"We actually have a really good excuse," Nico said.

"Well?"

"It would take too long to explain right now."

Miguel sighed. "Fine, explain it to me after your act. Go get ready."

Nico and Pedro rushed through the heavy congregation of birds, Pedro taking care not to fly so no one would notice Nico's inability to do so. They slipped through the curtain that led to the abandoned market stall that served as backstage, and were immediately met with cries of "There you are!" and "Where have you been?"

"No time to explain, guys," Pedro said. Although everyone backstage had been wondering where the two token Branch birds were, only three fluttered to their sides, giving them their rapt attention.

"Okay," Nico began, clearly thrilled at finally being in his element. "I know we didn't get to rehearse today like we'd planned. Something came up, and we're sorry for any trouble or anything we may have caused."

Pedro took over. "But you guys know what you're doing, right?" All three birds nodded. "Ricky, Luigi, your sweet sound system's up?" A light blue parakeet and a green cardinal gave a thumbs-up. "Angie, lights?" A pink parakeet nodded enthusiastically.

Pedro smiled and turned to Nico, whispering so their three back-up performers couldn't hear. "Are you sure you can perform with your wing?"

Nico nodded.

"But what about that one move—"

"I can do it, bro. It's only for a few seconds."

"We don't have to do it—"

"Are you kidding? You drilled me into the ground with that move! No way all those hours of pain are going to waste!"

"Well, yeah, because you're hopeless with choreography."

"I can do it."

"Only if you feel up to it."

"My wing's feeling better already," Nico said, adjusting his bottle cap, angling it for battle just like he had yesterday morning while defending the virtues of samba from Blu. His face adopted a steely, but excited, expression.

"Then let's do this."

* * *

><p>"I don't think they've started yet," Rafael said happily as he landed, struggling to touch the ground before Javier and Rey did.<p>

"What song are they performing?" Jewel asked.

"Samba, what else?" Blu said, gently setting down his daughter.

Rafael craned his neck, as if searching for someone in the crowd. "They write a new one every year. But they keep it top secret. If they can't perform it with just the two of them, they call in favors from some other friends, but they don't even like doing that. _I _don't even hear the song before it's performed."

Blu and Jewel looked at each other. Nico and Pedro always shared their songs. If they were writing a new one and only had one verse, they tested out the one verse, mostly on Rafael but occasionally on Blu and Jewel. Neither had thought it possible for the two birds to keep a secret song.

Rafael's face brightened as he located a pelican. "There he is! Come on, guys, let's get closer to the stage." He ushered Javier and Rey ahead of him, yelling at everyone to move so he could wade through. Navigating through this crowd was no easy feat, but most people recognized Rafael, and moved out of respect. Blu, Jewel, and Abelina were able to wade through easily in Rafael's wake.

"Miguel!" Rafael cried as he eased his way up next to the pelican.

"There you are, Raf!" the pelican clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I knew you had to be here somewhere." Noticing the two hopping Blue Macaw boys, he started. "Whose kids are these?"

"They're with me," Rafael said, gesturing towards all of the Blue Macaws. "I know it's not the best place for kids, but it's a special occasion."

Miguel shrugged. "I'll make sure nothing happens."

"Good. Nico and Pedro get here okay?"

"They crashed in and fell to the ground. Not a good first impression on some of the rival club owners." Miguel angled his head in the vague direction of a group of snobbish looking birds occupying a prime perch fairly close to the stage. "I was bragging about our headliners, and here they come in not only late, but acting like they're drugged."

Rafael laughed and gestured to Miguel to come in a little closer. He started whispering in his ear. Miguel's face gradually changed from angry to surprised to shocked and then back to angry as he occasionally exclaimed "Raoul?" or "No!" The kids giggled, mostly because, for once, they knew what was going on.

"I'll take care of it," Miguel said after Rafael's hushed tones ceased. He had only taken one step before the lights, provided by individual stage lights stolen from human clubs and attached to the roofs of various abandoned buildings surrounding the alley, dimmed. A few whoops escaped the excited crowd, although it mostly comprised of hushed murmurs.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a very loud pelican began from the far corner of the stage, "our next act is being performed by the winners of The Best of the Branch for the last four years. You all know who I'm talking about. Give it up for…Nico and Pedro!"

The cheering that followed lasted for about 30 seconds, and the announcer pelican had to motion to the audience to quiet down so the act could begin. The moment he leapt off the stage, the spotlight landed on a parakeet and a cardinal operating a human techno sound system that had somehow been hidden in the shadows behind the stage. The parakeet hit a button, and a droning sound was produced.

Less than a second later, the lyrics started.

_If you really want more…_

_Scream it out louder!_

_If you on the floor…_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit_

_Give it moooooooooooooooore!_

It was definitely Nico's voice singing, but both he and Pedro were hidden from view. Then a spotlight landed on an overturned cup, revealing Nico standing with his bottle cap angled to hide his face.

_Watch me as I dance under the spotlight_

_Listen to the people screamin' out more and more_

_Cuz I create the feeling that keep 'em comin' back_

_Yeah, I create the feeling that keep 'em comin' back_

_So captivating when I get it on the floor_

Nico tapped his foot while singing the first half of the verse, then gestured to the main floor of the stage, where Pedro took over, break-dancing up a storm.

_Though you're impatiently waitin'_

_I know you need me, I can feel it_

_I'm a beast, I'm an animal_

_I'm that monster in the mirror_

Nico slid down the side of the cup, landing on the stage. Pedro, while dancing, had ended up all the way at the other side of the stage. The two slowly danced towards one another.

_The headliner, finisher, I'm the closer, winner_

_That's when under pressure one second's left I show up!_

Nico and Pedro suddenly broke into a run towards one another, holding their wings out. They dropped to their knees halfway through the run, sliding past each other and high-fiving at the chorus.

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

They popped up from their slide, each now on the opposite end of the stage, brandishing their arms in a sort of victorious fist pump.

_If you on the floor_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it moooooooooooooore!_

The chorus repeated, and Nico and Pedro continued to frenzy up the audience with their energetic fist pumps. Nico waved his bottle cap to a few ladies in the front row.

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

_If you on the floor!_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up! _

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it moooooooooooooore!_

Pedro, who had joined Nico in singing the chorus, focused his energy anew on break-dancing while Nico resumed the lyrics, dancing a little less intensely on his own side of the stage.

_Get up both your hands_

_I'm in the zone, tight,_

_Put 'em in the air_

_If you want more, and more,_

_Cuz I can't wait to feel it_

_I go hard, can't stop,_

_But if I stop then just know_

_That I'ma bring it back_

_Never quittin', don't believe in that_

The two performers started again to slowly make their way towards each other, making eye contact with audience members on the way.

_Oooooooh, you're impatiently waiting_

_I know you need me, I can feel it_

_I'm a beast, I'm an animal_

_I'm that monster in the mirror_

_The headliner, finisher, I'm the closer, winner_

_That's when under pressure one second's left I show up!_

Nico and Pedro broke into another run, although this time Nico slid sideways and only Pedro dropped to his knees in a slide.

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

The two reached other and high-fived again, but instead of letting go, Pedro grasped Nico's wing harder, swinging him up until the canary was upside-down and balancing in Pedro's palm with one wing. With the other, he took off his bottle cap, brandishing it to the screaming audience upside-down.

_If you on the floor!_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit_

_Give it mooooooooooooore_

Pedro propelled Nico off with a thrust of his wing, and Nico flipped in mid-air before landing, in perfect splits, on the stage. A second later, his bottle cap fell through the air, landing squarely on his head.

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

_If you on the floor!_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit_

_Give it moooooooooooooore_

Nico popped up to cheers that almost drowned out the lyrics, despite both performers belting them at the top of their lungs. Nico retreated to the background, fiddling with his bottle cap in his own dance, surrendering the spotlight to a break-dancing Pedro now that his own moment of fame was done.

_Oooooooooooo-ooooooooo-oooooooooh_

_Oooooooooooo-oooooooooo-oooooooooooh_

_Oooooooooo-oooooooooooo-ooooooooh_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it moooooooooooooore!_

In the audience, Rafael leaned over to Blu. "Can't even tell Nico's wing is hurt, can you?"

Miguel, who hadn't actually left for fear of missing his headliners' performance, looked over at the nodding Blue Macaw. "What?"

_Oooooooooo-oooooooooooo-oooooooh_

_Oooooooooo-oooooooooo-ooooooooh_

_Oooooooooo-ooooooooo-oooooooooooh_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it moooooooooooooooore!_

Miguel briefly tore his eyes away from Pedro executing dance moves he had not previously thought physically possible, and quickly noticed Nico favoring his right wing while twirling his bottle cap.

"No way!"

Rafael smiled. "Way."

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

Cheers continued to erupt in favor of Pedro's astounding dancing, and the three Blue Macaw chicks wildly participated. All three had somehow managed to make their way up to the front row. Nico caught Abelina's eye, extending his right wing and swinging her onto the stage beside him.

_If you on the floor!_

_Bring out the fire!_

He twirled the little chick, and Pedro, in tune with the goings-on despite his completely focused dancing revelry, caught her.

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

Nico pulled Javier and Rey up onto the stage, where they fist-pumped alongside their uncle. Pedro twirled Abelina back to Nico and the kids, and she joined her brothers in dancing in an adorably kiddish fashion.

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it moooooooore!_

_If you really want more!_

_Scream it out louder!_

_If you on the floor,_

_Bring out the fire!_

_And light it up!_

_Take it up higher!_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it mooooooooooooooore!_

The kids, suddenly realizing they were in front of hundreds of screaming birds, abruptly developed a sort of stage fright and made their way off the stage. They plopped to the ground, running back to their laughing parents, turning around to see Nico and Pedro's final sign-off.

Nico and Pedro, still on opposite sides of the stage, worked their way back to each other, dancing backwards. Their reverse moon-walking was actually quite impressive.

_Ooooooooooo-oooooooo-ooooooooooh_

_Oooooooo-ooooooooooooo-ooooooooh_

_Ooooooooooo-oooooooooo-oooooooooooh_

_Gonna push it to the limit,_

_Give it mooooooooooooore!_

The two birds reached other just as the song abruptly ended, posing back-to-back with arms extended.

And as The Branch exploded in applause, their fatigue and weariness eroded away into something much more sweet. Incomparable satisfaction.

* * *

><p>The applause continued for almost an entire minute. Nico and Pedro bowed extravagantly on stage, clearly enjoying the attention. As Nico winked and smiled at some ladies pushing to reach the front, he noticed two parrots trying to ease their way in past the distracted crowd.<p>

He nudged Pedro, and both birds then looked over at their small group of friends gathered near the front. Rafael noticed the sudden concern replacing their after-performance smiles, and looked in the direction both were pointing.

Miguel followed Rafael's gaze, exchanged some words with his toucan friend, and then disappeared. Nico and Pedro saw Rafael whisper something to Blu and Jewel, who then gathered their children and took off.

Nico and Pedro followed suit, abandoning the stage and the still strong applause to meet up with Rafael.

"Where'd Blu and Jewel go?" Pedro asked.

"I told them it might get ugly in here," Rafael explained. "It might be a good idea to get the kids out."

"Good thinking," Nico said, craning his neck to see the corner where Raoul and Diego had entered. Unable to see past anyone because of his size, he scrambled up Rafael's shoulder—his go-to method whenever he couldn't see in large crowds.

"Ow," the toucan said as Nico gripped one of his large black feathers to keep from falling. "Why don't you just fly—" Rafael stopped himself, realizing his memory relapse. "I forgot! How's your wing?"

Nico pulled himself successfully onto the bigger bird's shoulder, still peering desperately to see what was going on despite his much better view. "What? Oh, my wing? It's fine," he said quickly.

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"There's no way it's just fine all of a sudden."

Nico frowned. "Fine, it hurts a little. No big deal."

Pedro stretched onto his tiptoes and gingerly felt his friend's wing. Nico instantly drew it back, shutting his mouth too late to prevent a cry of pain from escaping. Pedro frowned. "I knew we shouldn't have done that move."

"There was no _way _we weren't doing that move," Nico sulked, rubbing his wing.

"Actually, I'm with Nico on this one, that was _awesome_," Rafael said. Pedro shot his friend an annoyed glare. "Oh, come on, you know you had to do it."

"I still think he should go to a doctor or something."

"Well, duh, we're taking him to the bird sanctuary."

"I can hear everything you're saying," Nico said. "And I am _not _going to the bird sanctuary."

"What? Why not—"

Nico cut Rafael off with his loud "SHHHHHH". Although he still couldn't hear the goings-on past all of the other Branch partiers, he saw Miguel and some of the larger security birds talking to Raoul and Diego. "Did you tell Miguel about Raoul?"

"You know it."

Nico smiled. "Nice."

"What's going on, what's going on?" Pedro asked, hovering in mid-air to see what Nico and Rafael were seeing.

Miguel had his arms crossed and stared sternly down at Raoul, who seemed to be sputtering wildly and gesturing towards the stage. Diego was doing the same. The pelican shook his head and motioned to the bulky birds behind him. They ushered the two parrots out with less than friendly maneuvers.

"Where are they taking them?" Nico asked.

"Ever seen the American movie '21'?" Rafael responded.

"No."

"Nevermind then."

"What!" Pedro guffawed.

"Come on, Raf. Tell us," Nico begged.

"If you go to the bird sanctuary."

Nico glowered at Rafael's ultimatum. "No."

"We're making you go whether you agree or not, so you might as well go," Pedro pointed out.

Nico made an effort to cross his arms, but winced when he moved his left wing. Both Pedro and Rafael, though the toucan could only see the canary resting on his shoulder through his peripherals, noticed.

"I also told Miguel that if you were still here, he shouldn't announce you as the winner," Rafael mumbled.

"WHAT?"

"If you don't go to Linda, like, now, Miguel is making you ineligible to win."

Nico's jaw dropped. "You can't do that!"

"Hey, Miguel makes the rules."

Pedro was also staring at Rafael in disbelief. "You can do that?"

"Rafael can do anything," the toucan said smugly. "You better go, Nico, you'll hear if you won tomorrow."

Pedro switched his stare from Rafael to Nico. "I will personally murder you if you don't just go to the stupid bird sanctuary."

Nico glowered. "Fine."

"That's my boy," Rafael said. "I told Blu to wait outside so he could take you to Linda."

Nico slumped. "Fine." He slid down Rafael's shoulder and trudged between the cardinal and the toucan like a soldier going off to war.

"It's not that bad," Rafael said, trying not to laugh at Nico's expression. "You'll probably get a lollipop."

* * *

><p>I hope everyone got that YouTube video working so you could hear the song!<p>

The next chapter will be the last. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter (especially those who voted), and thank you for reading my author's notes. As always...reviews would be ever so nice.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello Readers! This is my final chapter. Thank you to everyone who read the story, special thanks to those who reviewed it. I hope the last chapter is acceptable-it's mostly wrap-up fluff.

* * *

><p>"See? You did get a lollipop."<p>

Nico couldn't argue with Rafael, partly because he did indeed have a cute little birdie size lollipop, and partly because said lollipop was currently lodged in his mouth. He sucked on it happily and tried to glare at Rafael, but his visit hadn't actually been that bad. He had no negative feelings to fuel the glare with.

Blu was squawking happily at Linda on the other side of the room, always elated when he had a chance to visit her. Rafael, Nico, and Pedro were all familiar with the humans who ran the Blu Bird Sanctuary, but they always felt more comfortable when Blu was there. They also liked to see him behave like a spoiled pet while they snickered in the background. Later, they would call him a pansy.

"There you go, Blu," Linda half-whispered, handing her best friend a lollipop of his own. Pedro gaped.

"That's not fair!" he yelled.

Nico ripped the sucker from his mouth. "He wasn't even injured!"

Rafael laughed behind them. "You know he gets special treatment."

"That doesn't make it fair."

Although Linda could only hear squawking, she correctly guessed the reason for Pedro's sudden frenzy. She giggled. "Calm down, I can hand lollipops all around just this once," she said amiably while giving suckers to both Pedro and Rafael. Pedro immediately popped his in his mouth, but Rafael kept his, mumbling something about giving it to the kid who annoyed him least tomorrow.

"Don't tell Tulio," Linda whispered to Blu. "He keeps wondering why we run out of suckers all the time."

Blu winked, offering his feathered head to be rubbed affectionately by Linda. Nico brooded as he sucked on the remnants of his own lollipop.

"Qwat's chup witch yoo?" Pedro asked, unwilling to remove his sucker and instead talking around it.

"This makes my lollipop less special," Nico sulked, crossing his arms.

"Kids, kids, don't fight," Rafael said with a touch of sarcasm.

"But he got one too! He didn't even have to sit through a check-up," Nico whined, failing to recognize the amused exasperation in Rafael's tone.

"You're just jealous that my lollipop is better."

"No it's not."

"Well I have a bigger one."

"That's because I've been eating mine!"

"It's still bigger!"

"It's the same size as the one I got!"

Linda giggled as she interrupted the squawking birds. "Okay, little guy," she said, gently prying Nico away from Pedro before the canary could strangle his friend. "Let's look at this one more time before you go, just to be safe."

When the four birds arrived, Nico riding Rafael's back, Linda had immediately noticed the canary's incapacitation. After fleetingly greeting Blu, she gingerly picked Nico up, took him into the examination room, and did a quick check-up, since Tulio had taken the night off. The check-up didn't last for more than 10 minutes, but to Nico, who would try to avoid a medical examination if he needed open-heart surgery, it might as well have lasted 10 hours.

Linda did the same examination this time, although she didn't bother taking him into the back room. She felt his wing, gentle enough to avoid causing the canary unnecessary pain, but hard enough so she knew where the wing did cause him pain. After a few minutes, she declared her original assessment. "Yep, looks like it's just a sprain. We don't even need to put a cast on it, it'll heal up in probably less than a week." She put Nico down, then looked sternly at the little bird. "But no flying until then. Come back in a week and we'll see how you're doing."

Nico piped his thanks, thoroughly annoyed at being banned from the skies. He turned to Blu. "Now I know how Jewel must have felt."

"Jewel couldn't fly for two weeks."

"What did she do in all that time?"

A dreamy expression suddenly overtook Blu's face. "Oh, you know…there's not much for two birds in love to do on the ground…"

Nico promptly started making gagging noises.

"You like the kids, don't you?"

"Stop talking," the canary begged, hands over his ears.

"Okay, you heard her," Rafael interrupted. "No flying for a week. So hop on my back."

"Where we going?"

"Back to The Branch. It's still early. I bet we can get there in time to hear the winning announcement."

"You mean we won't have to wait until tomorrow?" Blu asked. "That's good. Jewel will want to know."

Nico and Pedro looked at each other, expressions equally elated. Nico clambered back onto Rafael and Pedro and Blu took off.

As Rafael prepared to follow, he said, "See? I told you it wouldn't be that bad."

* * *

><p>Nico and Pedro slid out of The Branch triumphantly, wings raised in exalted fist-pumps.<p>

"We won, man!" Pedro held his hand up high.

"I know! I was there too!" Nico jumped up to slap it.

"Fifth year in a row!"

"No one can top us!"

Rafael smiled in the background as the two friends chest-bumped, praising themselves extravagantly in the streets. Blu stood next to him, in a sort of daze.

"There was no prize?"

"Just pride."

"But no physical prize?"

"Nope."

"You're saying that we went through all that to get these two to a supposedly important contest where _they don't win anything?_"

"They win pride."

"That's not a prize!"

"What did you expect them to win?"

"I-I don't know," Blu stuttered. "Some sort of ribbon at least, or a trophy, or money, or _something._"

"What use would we have for money?"

"At least the coins are shiny. Like a trophy."

"There might not be a physical prize for winning The Best of the Branch, but people know their names now. They win respect, and they get to perform a lot."

"People knew them before! They performed a lot before!"

"Yeah, because they won the contest four years ago," Rafael explained. "Every Branch hit starts off winning The Best of the Branch."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Winning is really just a way for these two to keep their statuses up."

"They couldn't have done that without winning?"

"Nah, they coulda. But look how happy they are." Rafael gestured to Nico and Pedro, who were now running in circles from sheer exhilaration.

"I see." Blu yawned. "HEY! Guys!"

Pedro halted at Blu's yell, and Nico ran into him, falling backwards.

"Congratulations. But I'm tired. I'm gonna go home and tell Jewel the good news."

"Kay! Bye, bro!"

"Thanks for being awesome today!" Nico flashed his friend a thumbs-up.

"Um…yeah. No problem." Blu looked puzzled for a second, but shook it off and then headed in the direction of his tree.

"I think we confused him," Nico whispered to Pedro.

"I don't think he's ever been called awesome before."

Pedro's observation ignited deep belly laughs from the both of them. Rafael suspected they were starting to get slaphappy.

"Have you guys eaten at all today?"

Nico stopped laughing abruptly as his stomach growled. "Now that you mention it…I'm _starving._"

"Me too!"

"I figured," Rafael said drily. "I bet there's a bar open somewhere. Let's grab a bite."

* * *

><p>"I don't get it, Raf," Pedro said, mouth full of nachos. He sipped some soda from a child size fountain cup. "I mean…what's counting cards?"<p>

"When you count the amount of cards in a deck during blackjack. It helps predict what cards are going to be next so you know how big your bet should be."

"Aren't there 52 cards in every deck?"

Rafael rolled his eyes, putting his wings behind his head and leaning back against the building. He stretched his legs out onto the restaurant's colorful canopy. "No, Pedro, that's not what I meant. Let's try it this way. There are four aces in each deck, right?"

"Right."

"So if you remember that all four aces have been played while you've been sitting there, if you have a 10 or a 20, you probably shouldn't take a hit."

"What's getting beaten up have to do with it?"

"Taking a hit means getting another card."

"Oh."

Nico swallowed his substantial mouthful of onion ring and piped in. "Why wouldn't you take a hit if you had a 10? That's a weak number."

Rafael gestured excitedly towards the canary ripping off another bit of fried onion. "See? Nico gets it! The example just means that you wouldn't get a direct 21 with the next card because all the aces are gone."

"But you could get to the high teens."

"Well yeah, you should always get another hit if you have a number under 14. Once it gets to 14 or 15 you've got to be careful."

"What if we know that most of the numbers over 6 have been used?"

"There you go!" Rafael said proudly.

"Show-off," Pedro mumbled.

"How is that showing off?" Nico said, brushing infiltrating nacho crumbs off his side of the canopy.

"Because you get it better than me."

"That's just natural smarts, not showing off."

"Whatever," Pedro sulked and turned back towards Rafael. "So what does all this have to do with what happened to Raoul?"

"You asked the plot of the movie I mentioned earlier. I said it was about counting cards and then you wanted me to explain _that._"

"Well explain the other thing then!"

"I don't think I will."

"You promised if I went to Linda!" Nico whined.

"That's true. But wouldn't you rather see it?"

Pedro paused putting another nacho in his mouth. "See Raoul?"

"Oh, no. That's long done now. I talked to Miguel before the winning announcement."

"And?"

"He's banished from Rio."

"Nice," Nico and Pedro said in unison.

"But that doesn't explain what happened to him," Nico continued.

"Would you like to see the movie?"

"Yes!" Nico and Pedro said, once again, in unison.

"I bet we can next week," Rafael said, stroking his beak in deep thought. "You guys know Richie?"

"The guy whose owner owns the video store?" Pedro asked.

"You got it. His owner is going on vacation to visit family in a week or two. Know what that means?"

"We get unlimited access to his electronics?" Nico said excitedly.

"Yep. Including his flat-screen. We've already talked about hanging out. I'll suggest watching 21 with you guys to him."

"Since when are you buds with Richie?" Nico asked.

"We're not exactly tight, but we're friends. I don't know. Kind of just happened. I like the guy."

Nico shrugged and looked over at Pedro, who looked equally nonchalant. The two party birds knew almost everyone in Rio de Janeiro, or at least almost everyone who roosted in the rainforest. They had met Richie before, but the fact that he was one of the few birds they knew with an owner meant he wasn't in the forest a whole lot. They didn't dislike the guy; they just didn't know him very well.

"Sounds cool," Pedro said.

"Great. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow. Now you guys get to bed."

"Awww, Raf!"

"You're exhausted."

Although Pedro sputtered in protest, Nico couldn't argue as he yawned. "Fine, but I'll need a ride."

"Oh yeah." Rafael extended his wing to make climbing easier for the canary. Although Nico could technically fit on Pedro, and had been forced to on certain occasions, Rafael knew he was a much smoother flight. He didn't blame Nico for preferring him to the clumsy cardinal.

* * *

><p>Nico and Pedro collapsed simultaneously as soon as they set foot in their little hollow.<p>

"It feels good to be home."

"Got that right, bro," Nico answered drowsily, unwilling to even lift his face from the floor.

"Home always feels better when you slept in a bush the night before."

"Or on the curb under a candy wrapper."

"Why were you on a curb under a candy wrapper?"

"Why were you in a bush?"

"I passed out trying to get away from that cat."

"Oh yeah. I was trying to find you and I hit a stop sign."

"My story's a lot cooler."

Nico pushed himself up from the ground. "No it's not. Where _were _you all day?"

"Trying to find you! I went to the beach and found Blu and Jewel first, and then we checked with Rafael, and then we checked here—"

"This wasn't the first place you looked?"

"Why does everyone ask that?"

"Why didn't you go to the beach? Or the bird sanctuary? Or any other place I was at all day?"

"We did! We split up to look for you when I remembered Raoul going crazy—"

"Wait, what?" Nico had been about to stand, but halted when he heard Pedro. "You went to the beach?"

"Well _I_ didn't, I was with Rafael. We went into town and Blu and Jewel went to the beach and the sanctuary—"

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Why?"

"I went to the beach! AND the sanctuary! I was at the beach forever!"

Pedro laughed. "No you weren't."

"YES I WAS! I stopped at Blu and Jewel's tree, and then at the sanctuary because I figured he might be with Linda, and then the beach…"

"Then how did you not find anybody?"

"I don't know! I went swimming and then I thought to check Luiz's so I hopped on the trolley!"

"When?"

"I don't know, four o'clock!"

"WHAT?" Pedro popped up from the ground. "We were there at four!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"We rode the trolley and there was this weird kick mark on it—" Pedro's eyes widened in apprehension.

Nico's bottle cap popped off from sheer frustration. "THAT WAS ME! I KICKED THE TROLLEY!"

"Well where were you!"

"At Luiz's!"

"DAAAAAAAAAH!" Pedro collapsed again, more exhausted than before. "Why were you moving around all day?"

"Did you want me to lay unconscious in the street?"

"We probably would have found you easier…"

"Stop all this 'finding me' stuff, I heard Raoul say a cat chased you and then _I _went to look for _you_—"

"He kidnapped you!" Pedro yelled, finally forcing himself to stand.

"Why are you convinced he kidnapped me—"

"Because he said he…kidnapped you?"

Nico stood too, looking unamused at his friend. "And you trusted that?"

Pedro remained silent for a moment. "Better than not trusting it and having it turn out to be true," he said finally, moving his foot in circles and looking down at it like a chastised child.

Nico opened his mouth to respond with something sassy fueled by his exhaustion and poor diet for the day, but stopped himself. "I guess so."

Pedro looked embarrassed. "I was really worried about you today, man."

"Yeah…the feeling was mutual," Nico admitted. He playfully punched his friend on the arm. "But don't ever tell anyone."

"Duh."

The friends stayed silent for a minute, neither entirely sure what to say. Or sure anything else needed to be said.

"G'night."

"G'night."

Pedro plopped down on the messy heap of leaves that served as his bedding, and Nico fell onto his slightly tidier pile. They were both asleep within a minute.

* * *

><p>Thanks again to all who read! As always...reviews would be great.<p>

Whatever will I do with myself now that the story's done? Hm...perhaps I'll write a companion piece. Yes, I think another story is in order. If you liked this one, keep a look out for it! ;)

Sincerely yours,

KhallieGurl


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